Ahead of the DIVA Film Festival, we caught up with the director of this art heist comedy
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGES BY CINDER CHOU
To celebrate Lesbian Visibility Week this year, we are holding our very first DIVA Film Festival to showcase some of the best LGBTQIA films from around the world. On 28 April, you can watch a very special screening of Cinder Chou’s debut feature film Artist Unknown.
This witty comedy follows Juniper, an insecure martial artist, who is determined to find out the origins of a painting after two thieves attempt to steal it from her. When she meets Penny, another fighter, the pair work together to uncover this mystery and connect over what they’ve been hiding inside.
We spoke to Cinder Chou ahead of this screening to find out more about this fast-paced queer rom-com.
You can book your tickets to Artist Unknown here: Artist Unknown
What inspired your debut feature film Artist Unknown?
I wrote this film during the pandemic when my other project was put on hold. I still had this need to create so I searched my brain for ideas I’d saved that could be done in a small and intimate way. I have a background in Art History and have been fascinated with stories about people who buy artwork from thrift stores that turn out to be priceless works of art. That became the setup for the story. Then I had to figure out who the unassuming protagonist would be. I had wanted to work with my friend Kerry Lacy who is both a talented actor and martial artist. I asked if she wanted to work on this project with me and she said yes.
What were some of your favourite scenes to write/direct/produce?
I really enjoyed writing and directing scenes with Juniper and Penny. Through writing, I discovered Penny is a con woman and this character trait coloured the scenes with such an interesting power dynamic. Kerry and Sonia Mena (Penny) have such great chemistry and it was impossible to work with them because they were giggling so much.
My favourite scene in the film is the self-defence class meet cute, which was actually the most difficult to write because there is something twisted about being attracted to your attacker in a role-play situation. On paper, the scene feels very instructive, explanatory, and lacking in drama. We decided it would feel more natural to have Kerry and Sonia improvise. I didn’t have to direct much, really. In the edit, this was the first scene that worked and we built the tone on top of the grounded intimacy.
How did you get into filmmaking? And what have been some of the biggest challenges in your career?
When I was growing up, I thought I would become an artist or a graphic novelist. Then in high school, my best friend got me into movies and I’d help him make these fun slasher movies. My imagination then became filled with scenes rather than still images. I didn’t pursue filmmaking until after college though I did study visual mediums in Visual Arts and Art History.
After graduating in 2009 I started working on films and TV shows in New York in the production department. I saw many films come together from start to finish and it was the best hands-on learning education. After learning and working for a few years, I made my first short film in 2013. Four short films later, here I am in 2024 with my very first feature film.
As far as challenges go, I realised a bit late that in order to get a feature film financed you have to prove that you can do it-which is to make a feature film. It’s a conundrum, to say the least. I had seen that a lot of the early films of directors were very low budget. Though I had this knowledge, actually executing an indie film is nearly impossible. Making Artist Unknown has been the biggest challenge yet. The bigger the challenge, the greater the reward. I am very proud of the film as it’s taken me here to the inaugural Diva Film Festival!
We’ve seen a recent rise in films about LGBTQIA characters. When you were growing up, where did you see yourself represented on screen?
I love seeing more films with LGBTQIA characters as the main protagonists. What I love even more is seeing films made by queer filmmakers.
I gobbled up LGBTQIA films when I was growing up. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey and it was a vacuum for LGBTQIA visibility so these films reassured me that there were others like me out there. At the time, I do remember a lot of these films were tragic like Lost & Delirious, Aimee & Jaguar, and Boys Don’t Cry. I loved But I’m A Cheerleader because it was fun and campy, aside from the gay conversion therapy. Saving Face was the first and only film I’ve seen with lesbians AND Asian Americans, that is until Alice Wu’s second film, The Half Of It. Show Me Love aka F*cking Amal made me feel very seen.
Queerness plays a large role in this film, what do you hope LGBTQIA audiences at the DIVA Film Festival take from it?
There’s an underlying feeling of being underestimated in the film and I think that resonates with queer people. The world we live in doesn’t always feel welcome and in dark times, it can feel hostile. The greatest self-betrayal is when we believe the message that we don’t belong and in response we hide. Both Juniper and Penny play it small in different ways and through their relationship with each other, they learn to embrace who they really want to be.
What I hope people watching this take from it, is to tune out the noise of what people think you should be and fight for what you truly want. Learning to fight for oneself is the most important lesson for being authentic.
What do you hope to see in the future of LGBTQIA filmmaking?
I love that the two big LGBTQIA releases this year have been lesbian crime thrillers, three if you count Artist Unknown! I’d love to see more genre films with LGBTQIA characters: gimme rom coms, action, horror, thriller. I’m here for the whole range of emotional experiences.
I want to see complex LGBTQIA characters who have agency and are good and a little bad, who are funny and scary, selfish and giving. You know, humans.
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