Jin Ly Trans#: Working Title

How do you describe your film?

It’s about the circle of my life. I’ve just turned 30 and have moved a lot, but I’ve felt like I’m turning around in a circle. People think that we are developing but it’s not true. We are going down at the same time. So, to break this circle, I went out to travel, to another world that I don’t know. I only know some big cities, so I wanted to take a trip, see other people, then to think about myself.

Do you think the circle is already done?

Not. At all. (laughs) I had a big depression during the editing, because the trip was great, but at the end I came back to Paris and nothing changed. The only thing that really changed was that I can’t stand big cities anymore. It started in the editing process. All the time I was there, I just didn’t go out. Sometimes it was 24 hours. Even at work, I was thinking about it. It is a little contradictory. I liked the trip to find my freedom… after that, I was in a prison.

What was so hard about this process?

I took a really long time. I’ve got three different versions of the movie. The first is two hours long and it was more about others, a portrait about different people from different parts of the world. It’s about the society and the people I met. The second one is more about social environments and the latter is more personal. Actually I don’t even know if it’s a documentary. I think it’s another kind of visual work. I take myself in the film as a character. This is a story about a girl, but it is also my story. I’m there too. I didn’t have the approach of a documentary-maker; it was more as a fiction director.

How was your approach to interviewing people?

The concept was improvisation. When I saw some people, I just went there and talked to them. I don’t know why, but in general, when I talk to the girls usually they talk more about general things. With the guys it can be more intimate, even if you don’t know each other. They talk much more about personal things, they are more open. That’s why it was interesting for me to put guys in the movie.

Putting yourself as the main character, is it hard not to act for the camera?

I don’t think I acted on camera, but I did in the interviews, in front of the people I talked to. Actually, the most interesting moments I didn’t film. There was a Chinese artist, a friend of mine, and we talked about so many impressive things, but I didn’t shoot because she might think I did it for the movie. So, there were many times when I didn’t use the camera in order not to scare them. So, everything that I have in my movie is less interesting than what I really lived through.

Why did you decide on a documentary format?

At first I wrote a fiction. I wanted to do a kind of docu-fiction, with an actress, mixing story and improvisation. But, I couldn’t get the budget for it. So, I just did this travelling by myself. I’ve shown it to some distributors and they said that it is closer to art, not cinema. But I did it for the big screen, actually. If it were for art, I could be more free.

Are you still looking for freedom?

Now I realize that it really comes from me, not from the outside world. My problems come from me, from who I am. You will not change, even if you go to the countryside or to a desert. You have to change by your own merits. I have to see myself, but it is very difficult. Unconsciously, it could be fear. Fear about myself, about other people, about the future. Maybe it is the fear of not being myself.

Was it hard to decide to show the sex scene in your documentary?

It was one of the easier choices (laughs). If there are images on the Internet, everywhere, these images rise up one day. If it happened with me, I would be embarrassed, so I just want to say: see it, I did it, so what?

By Arturo Mestanza