PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Qiu Sheng, director of the film Suburban Birds.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

Director Qiu Sheng presented his debut feature film, Suburban Birds, in competition at the 3rd International Film Festival of Macao. In this interview, he talks about how the film was based on his own memories and influenced by Kafka. We also talk about the challenges he faces in making his feature debut and he reveals that he believes he making films is perhaps the only thing he knows how to do. Furthermore, given the fact that in Suburban Birds, Qiu Sheng plays with narrative structure and makes use of devices not commonly associated with conventional filmmaking, we ask him whether he would define himself as a filmmaker who “trusts his own audience.”

Suburban Birds: Some ground subsidence has occurred in a suburban area and a team of engineers, including Hao, is dispatched to investigate the cause. After days of wandering around in the empty suburb looking for answers and carrying his heavy gear, Hao walks into a primary school where he finds a diary chronicling the story of a boy and the separation of what seems to be an intimate friend group. As he reads on, Hao discovers that this diary might contain prophecies about his own life.