MALAYSIA-born director Jing Ai Ng, who is Los Angeles-based and Miami-raised, recently won the prestigious Directors Guild of America's 2019 DGA Student Film Awards for African American, Asian American, Latino and Women directors awards.
The 26-year-old won in the Best Asian American Student Filmmakers category for her short film, 'Fleck', which was also shortlisted for the Best Short Film category at the Cannes Lions Young Director Award, reported Rojak Daily.
'Fleck' tells the story of an Asian American student, Jamie, at a boarding school who struggled to fit in until she was invited to an exclusive after-hours party hosted by the boys in her school.
She soon learns disturbing truths about the exclusive club and the price she has to pay to remain in it – her silence.
‘Fleck’ is her graduation thesis work. With this win, she joins the ranks of Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Jon M Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and Nicole Kassell (HBO’s Watchmen).
“The fact that they had won this award when they were students, it was really nice to have the same affirmation,” Ng told The Edge’s Options.
Her personal experience at boarding school in the US played a large part in conveying the film’s emotional weight. “I was one of the few Asians at my boarding school. While the story is not autobiographical, I consider it really personal. It’s something I wrote thinking about that part of my life, feeling out of place,” said Ng.
Which is why she wanted to show that these stories can, and should, be told. “I think it is very rare to see that contrast of a tense tone when it comes to stories about women, in particular teenage girls.
“I never knew why that combination hadn’t been tried much, it certainly is more true to my own experience. But now, I think we’re in a time when stories of younger people are being treated with respect and craftsmanship,” she said.
The director says growing up in Kuala Lumpur gave her a first-hand understanding of multiculturalism. “It is simply not just black and white. There is a lot of grey, and there are diff erent types of people,” she said.
“Besides my love of food, the other thing uniquely Malaysian about me, I think, is how we see humour in every situation. I think that mixture comes through in my work. It is rarely just one thing or another.” – The Vibes, December 12, 2020
