by FilmInk Staff
It’s half past five on a Tuesday evening along Melbourne’s Yarra River. At least four Arri cameras are rolling, with a drone lifting off, ready to get the final shot of rowers crossing the finish line. With almost 200 crew members and an equal amount in extras, there is little room for error.
Beijingese director Xiaolu “Lulu” Xue is well aware she needs to hand back the river to local rowers very soon. With producers breathing down her neck, the pressure is on. A few feet behind her taking notes is our director trainee, Tez Vi Truong, selected by FilmVic as part of the industry placement program.
Tez joined towards the end of filming The Whistleblower, Australia’s largest co-production with China, produced by Greg Basser of Perfect Village and Bill Kong of Edko films. The film expects to spend $40 million in Victoria’s economy, with financial backers such as Chinese media giant Tencent.
Some of the key experiences on the attachment involved shadowing the director, studying how she works with a large-scale project and, how she directs A-list actors such as Wei Tang, who starred across Chris Hemsworth in Michael Mann’s Black Hat.
Big film sets were not entirely a new thing to Tez. He had played a small role on the stunt heavy Australian television series Conspiracy 365, and also interviewed Teddy Chan, the director on the set of Hong Kong blockbuster Kung Fu Jungle starring Donnie Yen.
“As this is an Australian-Chinese co-production, I focused on learning about communication more than anything else. Watching DOP Marc Spicer communicate with Lulu was a masterclass in itself. I am very grateful that FilmVic and Mr Dean Hood put me forward. I guess those years of Chinese school finally paid off.”
The last time FilmInk spoke to Tez almost a decade ago, he had just returned from Honolulu where he won an award for his directorial debut feature film, Pink Teddy. “Well… I’ve been fired a few times since then,” says the director, as he begins to elaborate on the challenges preceding the attachment.
“The identity aspect could be a discussion forum in itself. Previously I applied for a diversity program, but wasn’t eligible because I had not been back in Victoria long enough to be a local again. It was almost the same displacement I felt during my five years in Asia.”
While jumping between projects in Hong Kong, Tez found himself teaching English to survive. However, he was often hired over the phone, and then fired upon arrival because of his Chinese appearance. “I ended up teaching in a storage room, because real classrooms were given directly to white people, even though they were non-native English speakers. I thought… hang on a minute, this is familiar.”
Tez jumped through a few hurdles, but eventually got on projects with his heroes such as Chris Doyle and Wong Kar Wai. He later penned a short script that led to writing for Disney China, and ultimately, The Whistleblower.
“I rushed my first feature film at the age of 26. I learned that directing is a delicate craft that is to be honed over time. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to learn that, from all female mentors, who shaped me in very specific ways.”
While at AFTRS, he studied under Ana Kokkinos (Head On) and Kim Farrant (Strangerland) and later mentored by Academy Award winning Melanie Coombs. During his Hong Kong stint he shadowed the renowned Rachel Zen, one of the pioneering female directors of Hong Kong cinema.
He adds, “… and of course The Whistleblower is directed by a woman, Xiaolu Xue, my latest mentor. She volunteered for 14 years in an organisation for autistic children. All these teachers showed me a kind of sensitivity, which I attempted to apply to my short film Little Hands, which later caught the attention of Disney.”
The next steps for Tez is to find the right producer for his next project and explore international co-production opportunities like The Whistleblower, which opens in cinemas next year.
Watch Little Hands directed by Tez.
