How to explain beyond the anger and chaos
From Xinyan Yu
VCspotlight is a bi-monthly interview series with the documentary filmmakers and video journalists who comprise our global filmmaking collective.
For the last seven years at the BBC, the Associated Press, and now, the South China Morning Post, Xinyan Yu has worked as a jack-of-all-trades producer covering breaking news across Asia, climate change, the opioid crisis in the US, and the Hong Kong protests. In 2018, she helped launch the China-focused news start-up Inkstone. She is currently working on two feature-length documentaries about China’s environmental restoration work along the Yangtze River and Chinese investment in Africa.
Where do you live? Where did you grow up?
I’m from Wuhan, an industrial city along the Yangtze River in Central China. All my family members worked for a giant state-owned steel factory, so I grew up in Soviet-style red brick buildings. I live in Jersey City now.
What was your first job?
I started my first real job with the BBC in Beijing, China. I was a jack-of-all-trades producer who did research, wrote blogs, and shot and edited TV, radio packages and documentaries. I also traveled all over Asia to cover major breaking news.
What was the first film or video that you worked on?
The first video I worked on was a mock story about how our intern gets to work on his bike every day. It was awful. I broke a tripod in the biting cold weather. It trained me quite well tough. I did my first real story on Beijing’s first African hair salon owned by Martha Makuena, a businesswoman from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What are you working on now?
I devote most of my time producing news videos and short films for Hong Kong’s flagship newspaper South China Morning Post in New York. I just did a few short stories featuring the Hong Kong protests in New York. I’m also working on two feature-length documentaries about China’s environmental restoration work along the Yangtze River and Chinese investment in Africa. Earlier this year, I published two short films on US’ opioid crisis and China’s Uyghur internment camps.
The biggest challenge I’ve encountered is working as a one-person band overseeing projects from researching, shaping story treatment, filming, editing to eventually getting different versions out on social media. I want to work on more long-form projects, but my hands are often tied with short features that require a much shorter turnaround time. I’m also trying to broaden the topics I cover beyond China-related stories. It’s my expertise, but I feel like I’ve outgrown it.
What is it like working for a Hong Kong-based publication right now?
For me, covering the Hong Kong protests has been an experience that’s both exciting and emotional. Coming from mainland China, I hear voices from both sides and I know how misinformation can really divide opinions. I was in Hong Kong last month, and it was amazing to stand amongst protesters who were so united for their causes, but it was also painful to see Hong Kong going through such a tumultuous time. I think as journalists, we need to look beyond the anger and chaos, and find ways to explain why things are happening the way they are.
Our team has covered a series of features and films that captured the protests from many points of views: protesters on the front line, artists who made protest-related art pieces, volunteer PR team promoting protesters’ voices online, mainland citizens/students who shared their views about the protests, Hongkongers who choose to leave their home city, protesters living in exile, etc. It’s difficult to maintain unbiased in a very polarized society. I ask myself if I have brought balance to my stories every day. When I cover protests in New York, I always try to give voices to people with different views. It’s really important to bring diverse and nuanced perspectives to the audiences.
What led to the founding of Inkstone?
Inkstone is a multimedia app that publishes daily digests of China-focused stories. It was a new startup that caters to the American audiences who are interested in the Greater China Region. Coming from a super traditional newsroom at the BBC, I spent a lot of time getting used to the very different workflow in a digital-first environment. Everything was new — I have never used Reddit, Slack or Chartbeat before I moved to Inkstone. I had a daily 2pm deadline that drove me crazy in the first three months. All the content needed to be light, insightful and engaging. I was tearing my hair out every day, but it was really interesting to learn how to shape a news product using real-time audience engagement data. We also had to constantly interact with our communities of readers/viewers on Reddit and Facebook. It was really challenging but fun.
What’s your favorite question to ask an interview subject?
I normally ask my interview subjects if I have missed anything and if they’d like to add anything at the end of an interview, but my favorite question is always “how would you explain this to your 80-year-old grandma?”
What’s a ritual or mantra that’s particularly important to you as a filmmaker?
Don’t be afraid of silence during an interview. I always feel the urge to press on with questions, but allowing the interviewee to pause and continue speaking at their own pace is really important. Sometimes silence brings out more emotions and thoughts.
What’s one thing in your camera bag that you can’t live without?
I like having a GoPro and a mini tripod with flexible legs in my camera bag to shoot things from unique angles. You can fold the tripod legs to attach the GoPro to windshield wipers, wing mirrors, bike handlebars, etc.
What inspires you?
Nanfu Wang is a filmmaker who’s always inspired me. She’s an Emmy-nominated and Peabody-winning filmmaker based in New York City. Her debut film “Hooligan Sparrow” made the Oscar best documentary shortlist in 2017. She just released her new documentary “One Child Nation,” a beautifully told story on China’s one-child policy. Nanfu fearlessly chased her dream despite a humble background. She is passionate about issues that touch on human lives and has persevered through difficult conditions to tell these stories to an international audience.
Do you have a favorite still from one of your projects?
This is a screen grab from a short film I did earlier this year on the US’s opioid crisis. The epidemic has killed tens of thousands of people in the US, but not many people know about it in Asia. I’ve always wanted to bring the human side of this story to a wider audience outside the US. I spent a few days in a rough area in Philadelphia, and Robert Reif, my main character, really made me feel welcome in a community where people help each other fight against addiction. I had only arrived in the US two months before, and I was very thankful for the trust people gave me.
What communities should other VC members should know about?
I’m part of A-Doc and the Chinese Storytellers. A-Doc is a super supportive network that works to increase the visibility and support of Asian Americans in the documentary field. Chinese Storytellers is a tight-knit community that empowers non-fiction content creators who grew up in the Greater China region. Both groups post information regularly on grants and jobs.
