Writer/Director AIMEE LONG makes her feature film debut with A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL and in this exclusive conversation goes in-depth into her journey to bring this story to life and how time proved timely for the ultimate release of the film.
If a filmmaker is going to make the leap from shorts to feature films, A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL is the kind of calling card they should want. We’ve seen so many films about the police, race relations, police shootings. We’ve seen things unfolding in real-lilfe on an almost daily basis over the past five years or so. But what we have not seen is the perspective of the Asian community when an Asian policeman or victim is involved; that is until now. It is always black and white, or black/ brown and white. We have never heard the voice of the Asian community. And we also have also never seen the intricacy of the fallout, the collateral damage, a look “behind the scenes” and what is motivating what we are publicly seeing. We haven’t seen the puppet masters. AIMEE LONG now gives us that and more with A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL.
A story that could have been lifted from the headlines of today, although inspired by an actual incident, A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL was the result of a lesser-known police shooting that involved the Asian community many years before George Floyd and Black Lives Matter brought issues of black, white, and brown police shootings and brutality to the forefront. Always seemingly left out of the conversation, Aimee Long chose to rectify that with A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL, the story of an accidental shooting of an innocent Black man in Brooklyn by a Chinese-American police officer. Starring Kenny Leu as rookie Officer Mike Tan, Long gives us a perspective we haven’t previously seen on screen or in real-life headlines as we see not only what happens to Tan and his own mindset, but the collateral damage to his family and friends. Navigating myriad issues of race, interracial relationships, media, police Internal Affairs, the justice system, culture clashes and deep-rooted cultural beliefs, thanks to riveting honest performances from not only Kenny Leu, but Ciara Renee, Tzi Ma, Fiona Fu, Clifton Davis, Lynn Chen, and Dan Lauria, our eyes and minds are opened to further discussion and a bigger picture.
During our conversation, Aimee talked about striving for authenticity into not only the Asian culture and Asian-American culture, but that she “wanted to see myself represented. I want to see sort of my family, an authentic Asian-American family represented on screen. So it started with this sort of family drama about the Asian-American family.” Building on that, Aimee then shaped the story around a 2014 real-life incident. Approaching the film like “the world is watching”, objectivity was key not only with the story and in presenting arguments and machinations of all sides with Officer Michael Tan at the center of it all but also with the visual imagery. The result is a compelling powerful film and an eye-opening and insightful interview.
TAKE A LISTEN . . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 01/20/2022
