Meet Jackie Shijie Xing | Director & Colorist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jackie Shijie Xing and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jackie, where did you come from and how has your background shaped who you are?
I’m from Beijing. I’ve lived in Beijing for the first 18 years of my life.

The city shoulders an immense load as the economic and political center of the country. This load is also shared by the people living in it. Beijing-ren are proud, hardworking, and warmhearted people, while they can also be hubristic, unforgiving, and numb to suffering in the same breath. For better or for worse, a Chinese could tell that I’m from Beijing just by the way I carry myself.

Beijing is not a city holding its arms out for migrants, migrants like my family. Deep down, I can never forget how badly the city tried to reject me at first. So, when I first came to New York at 18, I couldn’t help but feel at home in that regard.

My early days in Beijing were spent as a child actor because I stumbled onto a Children’s TV set in the Chinese Central Television building, demanding a camera angle. Despite neither of my parents being in film and TV, I inserted myself into an industry that I grew to love without consciously noticing. When I was in primary school, I got bullied for being a migrant kid; the Beijing-ren and the child star in me fought back in the only way I knew how: physically. Then when it was time for middle school, I got denied public school entrance because of my Hebei ID.

I went to an international school instead, which encouraged me to dabble in everything since the school had much less emphasis on grades and, to an extent, conformity, compared to public schools. This may sound like a cliché, but the restraints I felt as a young kid exploded into an uncontrollable desire to express myself. I started from acting in school plays to writing plays, writing short novels, drawing comics, making let’s-play gaming videos, until finally directing short films.

I guess what this means, with a bit of exaggeration, is that I decided at a very young age that, if the city doesn’t accept me, I would make it. It’s just my methods that have been evolving.

Now that I’m working in New York, I see that whatever I learned in Beijing, I for sure brought it here with me and refined it. I have no family in the States. I had no American friends first coming here. Four and a half years later in the present, I got friends and colleagues I trust to make films with; my films have received many selections and nominations from Oscar-qualifying film festivals; and I am making a living as a director.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I write and direct. I make drama, thriller, and comedy. I like to think of my films as a melding of artistic expressions and compelling resonant commercial storytelling; with a bit a self-boasting that is. But I’d say a little self-boasting is just in character for a fresh graduate of NYU Film and TV. I guess I am proud of being able to express my visions as a director much better than I started, and making intriguing films.
I am excited by how fast I’m climbing up the career ladder. I’m 23. I have several selections and nominations from Oscar-qualifying and CSA qualifying film festivals. I am making a living in the states, a foreign country, with my crafts. It amazes me to think that I get paid to direct, doing my favorite thing.
It was not easy getting where I am, which is still not too impressive. I could not make up my mind if I wanted to be an editor, cinematographer, or a director when I first got into college. English is a second language so learning to convey my visions to the cast and crew was a challenge; even today I’m still learning new tricks to frame my thoughts. Balancing between outcome and budget in indie filmmaking is like tightrope walking. Ultimately, overcoming all of these makes one a better director.
I have a new film, ‘Dregs’, running in the festivals. ‘Dregs’ is a political drama inspired by true events about NYPD Sergeant Leung facing scrutiny for allegedly assaulting a subdued suspect. Follow us on IMDB and Instagram to stay tuned for the premiere!
I am also preparing for my first feature. It’s a action black comedy set in the 70s telling the story of a Chinese immigrant unwittingly saving a historical figure. I’ll start crowdfunding for the proof of concept really soon. Follow me on Instagram and stay tuned.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I wouldn’t subject my best friend to spend a week-long break in New York, that’d break my heart. But if I have to: I’d first take them to The Gutter Bar to chat and drink with New Yorkers and bowl with them, because New Yorkers are the single best thing about this great (arguable) city; then we’d eat around while visiting the capitalistic landmarks; until the second to the last day, I’d take them to see the sunrise on Coney Island Beach, and look at the city skylines until the Dim Sum shops are open and we hop on the D train straight to Grand Street, cuz that hot and aromatic Cantonese food and waitresses that don’t give a single fuck about us will forever be seared into their mind as one of the best memories of New York. That was certainly one of mine.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m bad at this because I’d very easily say something gross for how emotional I am, For those mentioned below, y’all know how I really feel. So here goes. Shout out to Chris Wang and Jessica Qian for being my producers, always being there with me through thick and thin.
Shout out to Jamal Abdinasir Mohamed who’s the best writer I know. You ground my visions in words. We gon make it one day, together.
Shout out to John Zeng and Yinan Shi for their insane cinematography. Y’all complete my visions with visuals.
Shout out to Hauton Xu for his editing and VFX, best craft and intuition in the biz, plus having the comfiest chair in his cutting room.
Shout out to Ynes Lopez and Beatrice Mai for their fire production design under time and budget constraints.
Shout out to Ryan Zhao for single handedly sound designing my film. Precise, professional, and creative.
And so many more I can’t fit into this one chunk of text. Y’all are everything.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xsjackie/

Youtube: https://vimeo.com/xsjackie

Other: IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm15028448/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk Email jackie.xing@nyu.edu

Image Credits
Yuming Zhang, Jessica Yiwen Qian, Shirley Wei