Meet Yutong Cao | Film Producer & Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yutong Cao and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yutong, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
As an independent film producer/director, all of my work is dedicated to raising the awareness of society about specific groups of people.

My films comes from reality and will give back to reality, which will make the viewer think and understand new things about their relationship with their family and their relationship with society after watching it. I’m not fond of stereotypical preaching, but I believe everyone can see something special in my work.

The short film I produced and directed, The Lights, which calls society’s attention to people with Alzheimer’s, has had good results at film festivals in China and Canada. After the screening, an audience told me that the short film had somewhat healed the wounds in his heart. The part of the protagonist living with his father, who has Alzheimer’s, gave him a glimpse of his own past.

In the short film I executive produced and directed, The Rowboat, the focus was placed on the relationship between second-generation Chinese immigrants and their families, which also received a good response.

Currently, I am working on a story about the difficult journey of a disabled child and his parents.

My work is giving a voice to my experiences and the people I come in contact with. I hope that all of my work impacts the community, but at the same time, I am very open to the impact that the community brings to me. As an old Chinese saying, “The cycle goes on and on and on.” Acceptance-transformation-export is the process of my creation.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a film producer and director. My work’s core is about responding to a certain group of people in society.

Currently, I am working on a short about the difficult journey of a disabled child and his parents. This comes from the fact that my friend’s personal experience deeply moved me, and I am ready to make a film about this difficult journey. The story between him and his child is true, and it can become a difficult but meaningful and challenging creative journey.

Starting with my first short film, The Lights, which I produced and directed, I focused on Alzheimer’s disease, which won awards at festivals in China and Canada. In my second short film, The Rowboat, which I directed and executive produced, I focused on second-generation immigrant groups in the U.S. How they survive and find their place in the cultural barriers is a long-standing issue. This short film is now ready to enter major film festivals, and I am very optimistic about it.

I am proud to be an Asian filmmaker. It allows me to work on telling stories that are uniquely Asian, spreading Asian culture, breaking stereotypes of Asians, and providing the world with diverse perspectives.

From China to the United States, it was a hard journey. Fortunately, my artistic focus has evolved as I have grown older and had more life experiences. In the process of finding the stories I want to tell, I have heard a lot of negativity, and it has been my goal to explore how to turn this negativity into something that inspires me to create.

I want the American film industry to see a young, creative, unique perspective producer and director like me. In my work, I am concerned with the relationship between people and society and exploring the tension between the individual and the group.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would definitely take my friend to Santa Monica and the independent cinema there in Venice Beach. There are so many great arty movies that can only be seen here, and you never know which celebrity will be sitting in the row behind you watching the same film as you. An unspoken stare and a smile at the film’s end are enough to be remembered for a long time.

What’s the one thing Los Angeles doesn’t lack? Film crews. I’ll take my curious friend on a tour of film sets to show the real life behind cameras. I just don’t know if he’ll still want to see it afterward, haha.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a film producer/director, and theater director, I’d like to give my biggest thanks to my mom, Ye. She’s always been a beacon of light on the trajectory of my life.

From the time I decided to give up my career in China to start my film career in Los Angeles, to the time I decided to speak up for social phenomena and specific groups, she has supported me every step of the way. She encouraged me to pursue what I love and taught me to love and be kind. All of this has made me more perceptive and empathetic in feeling what is around me and developing my artistic sensibilities. As a violinist, she has influenced my taste in music and my understanding of rhythm. Rhythm, for an artist of audiovisual language, is crucial.

The most interesting thing is that I did not realize her profound influence on me as a child, thinking that my mother, Ye, was just an ordinary person. But as I grew up, I became increasingly aware of how extraordinary she was to me, the richness of her spiritual world and content, and how she continued surprising me.

Instagram: yutong_111

Facebook: Yutong Cao

Image Credits
1. Yutong Cao 2. Yiran Zhangliu 3. Yutong Cao 4. Kouxiao Amy Zhang 5. Yutong Cao