Meet Zilai Feng | Animation artist

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

Hi Zilai, can you tell us about an impactful book you’ve read and why you liked it or what impact it had on you?
“End of the Game” is one of my all time favorite books, the author of which, Julio Cortazar, has also been a huge inspiration for my own art practices. The book is a short story collection and also the first time I came across his work. The first story, Continuity of Parks, made me fall in love with his writing instantly. The story starts with a man reading a novel, and ends up blending the story in the novel with the actual story, blurring the line between fiction and reality and subverting the point of view of the character, writer and the reader. Another story, “Don’t You Blame Anyone”, on which my animated short film “Sweater” was based, is about how a man tries to put on a sweater but ends up getting lost in it, and falls down from the window of his room. It captures the sense of absurdity in mundane life in a humorous and imaginative way. Such themes and playful qualities in his writing, as well as the exploration of time and space, dream and reality, have had big influences on my own work as I find my interest also revolves around similar subject matters.

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.
My interest in animation started in comics, when I was still a kid. Yet I had switched my interest to Fine Arts as a young adult and had always thought I’d become a fine artist, until after two years into college I accidentally decided to redo my bachelor degree in animation at CalArts. Before that, it had never crossed my mind that I would be in the field of animation. The way I stepped foot into it was also quite pure hearted —— I thought animation would only be a stage in my artistic journey and I would continue exploring other mediums after that, therefore I was resistant to the idea of working in the big studios in the industry and saw myself as an artist, instead of an animator. Things shifted drastically on the way and before I realized I have ended up at Pixar for more than 2 years now, which has been a great journey and a lucky one. Looking back, I believe, the tiny bit of uniqueness my work possesses (if any), as well as the difficulties I have faced in my career path, all came from that resistance to be defined and the desire to make auteurist short films and works. My interest in animation is always in the full experience of it —— not just one section down the pipeline, but from beginning to end, the process in which a fictional world forms and comes into existence. I remember reading the last words by Satoshi Kon, one of the biggest inspirations for me to pursue a career in animation, where he said: “This is because Satoshi Kon put his arms around the original story, the script, the characters and the settings, the sketches, the music…every single image.”, which I found deeply moving and appealing. And artistically, I am always drawn to storytelling and stories that wander between the conventional and experimental, the narrative and the abstract, or say, the mainstream animated movies and the indie shorts (for lack of a better term, I think the duality does the job in explaining what I mean). I pay attention to themes such as memories, dreams and reality, nostalgia, etc. Sometimes to me, capturing a moment of magic, where the mood and atmosphere is evoked through the combination of the line, the movement, the background, the music, the sound, the characters, is way more emotional and important than a perfect story or writing. My background as an immigrant also plays a big part in my identity as a filmmaker. The longer I am in the U.S., the more I have to grapple with what it means to be a foreigner, and what “home” means. This is also a theme that I have and would want to explore in my work in the future. Lastly, my faith as a Christian is also a big, if not the biggest, factor in my artistic journey. It affects the way I perceive things, both in the art itself and as a person in general. It also leads me to explore themes such as meanings and the big and theological questions. All of these things I think also added to the confusion and difficulty in seeking a career in animation, because of the lack of middle ground between the mainstream and the indie, and because my desire in participating in every part of the production, while it would be almost impossible because of the collaborative, pipeline-y nature and the long time span of the art form. And as I grapple with these thoughts and situations, I hope I will be able to continue to make stuff I love and that are meaningful.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I usually show people around the studio (Pixar) haha. The natures and hikes is also great around Berkeley. Also if they were my best friend I would probably invite them into my mundane life, which is boring, and, most importantly, my place, which is a great place and has a good chef (in my opinion). Anyways —— for hiking or just taking a walk, I love the Wild Cat Canyon in Richmond, Point Richmond, where there’s also a cute coffee/ice cream place called Kaleidoscope Coffee; Berkeley Bulb, etc. The grizzly peak and Lawrence Science Hall is also great for getting a full view or night view of Berkeley. For food I like Hong Kong Cafe (Cantonese), Teni East Kitchen (Bermese), Ippuku Yakitori (Japanese grill), Yin Ji Chang Fen (Cantonese rice noodle), Sauls’ (Jewish Deli), El Mono (Peruvian), Gangnam Tofu (Korean), Kiraku (super expensive fancy Japanese Izakaya), Viks Chaat (Indian), Dumpling House Mongolian Cuisine, Benchmark Pizza, Korean Superette. For Coffee or tea shops, I’d recommend Blue Willow Tea Spot, Highwire Coffee Roastery (in Albany, it is connected to a plant nursery and there’s barely any seats), Coro Coffee Room, Artis Coffee, My Coffee Roastery, The Hidden Cafe, Hal’s. And if people like bars, there’s a cozy pub I really love going called Schmidts on Solano Ave in Albany. And there’s Club Mallard, Hotsy Totsy. And there’s a board game cafe called Victory Point Cafe which also serves tap beer and coffee.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
God

Website: https://www.zilaifeng.com/

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zilai-feng-8b065488/

Other: https://vimeo.com/zilaifeng

Image Credits
“End of the Game” is one of my all time favorite books, the author of which, Julio Cortazar, has also been a huge inspiration for my own art practices. The book is a short story collection and also the first time I came across his work. The first story, Continuity of Parks, made me fall in love with his writing instantly. The story starts with a man reading a novel, and ends up blending the story in the novel with the actual story, blurring the line between fiction and reality and subverting the point of view of the character, writer and the reader. Another story, “Don’t You Blame Anyone”, on which my animated short film “Sweater” was based, is about how a man tries to put on a sweater but ends up getting lost in it, and falls down from the window of his room. It captures the sense of absurdity in mundane life in a humorous and imaginative way. Such themes and playful qualities in his writing, as well as the exploration of time and space, dream and reality, have had big influences on my own work as I find my interest also revolves around similar subject matters.