Yi Chen Studios

Synopsis

The award-winning debut of Chinese filmmaker Yi Chen, FL324 tells an exquisite, intimate story of alienation and reconciliation.

Aspiring Asian artist Mike is forced to ask his boyfriend Sam to move out upon his estranged father’s unexpected visit, but nothing turns out as expected for Mike, and he finds himself trapped in a clash of deceptions.

Press

You’re going to be seeing films that you’d never get to see. Consider ‘FL324,’ a short feature about the family conflicts faced by a young Asian gay man.”

Ellen McCarthy, Washington Post

A gritty, black-and-white tone that suggests a strong viewpoint on the subject matter.”

Greg Marzullo, Washington Blade

The story is one of love, identity and conflict: A gay Asian man is caught in a clash of culture and relationships, and is torn between his father and his love.”

Watch Out, Sundance, EXPRESS

…it was Chen’s short film that got the attention of critics at the 10th annual D.C. Independent Film Festival…”

Adrienne Frank, American Today

Comments from Yi Chen

ORIGIN OF THE PROJECT

The film was an attempt to reconstruct the state of mind of a troubled youth facing the unexpected visit of his estranged father—an unconscious, altogether intuitive attempt, for I was not aware at the time that it was semi-biographical.

Surely there were protective reasons for this ignorance, providing, as Truman Capote described it in the preface of “Other Voices, Other Rooms”, a fire curtain between the writer and the true source of his material.

ENDING

In the film, the father and the son aren’t in contact for many years. The visit only lasts about two weeks. I think it will take much longer for them to fully accept and understand each other. The ending of the film does not completely resolve the problem, but it provides a sense of hope. The son packs the gown in his father’s suitcase, but the father leaves it in his son’s apartment before he leaves. The gown, as a metaphor of their reconciliation, appears on screen as the last image, which leaves audience with an open ending, an opportunity to interpret it with their own vision.

CASTING

Casting Chinese actors in the DC area was the biggest challenge. It is almost a miracle that Mike and Al came along. Al is always in the heart of the film, in the heart of his character. Mike is all instinct with an uncommon intensity. There is nothing prefabricated about him. Neither of them speaks fluent Mandarin, so I recorded the lines, and they memorized them by repeating after the recordings.

FL324

I chose this term as a title to evoke the idea of distance and separate. FL324 is short for “Flight Level 32,400 feet,” a standard nominal altitude of an aircraft, and it’s the average flight level of flights between China and the U.S. FL324 is pronounced as “flight level three twenty four.”

Cast

Credit

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Winner

Official Selections

2007 Falls Church Film Festival
2008 DC Independent Film Festival
2008 The Heritage Film Festival

Artwork and Production Stills

screening room

This clip is part of the film review program "Screening Room" on American University's ATV. Click to see what they have to say about the award- winning short film FL 324.

For screening, distribution and press inquiries, contact:

yichen@yichenstudio.com