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Sade Mckenzie
sademcken@yahoo.com
AFTER completing two years of Film School in New York City, Nausheen Ishtiaq-Chen, 33, and her husband, both from Pakistan, decided to take on a new adventure in Shenzhen.
It was hard for Ishtiaq-Chen. She had major concerns about moving from a culturally developed New York, and she wondered if she would have the chance to pursue her filmmaking goals.
“I really wanted to make sure I had enough information about Shenzhen before going. I wanted to know if there were expats there, what they liked talking about, how was the film scene…I wanted intimate information,” said Ishtiaq-Chen.
She got in touch with the expat community in Shenzhen.
“I thought it was really cool that they had a filming community. This definitely made me feel a little better,” said Ishtiaq-Chen. “Things here are closer to the Western world in a lot of ways.”
As her husband transitioned into his new IT position, Ishtiaq-Chen decided to continue expanding her opportunities within the filmmaking industry.
Ishtiaq-Chen organizes a mixer in Shenzhen for local writers, producers and filmmakers.
“I was looking for avenues to meet full-time filmmakers, and there weren’t really any,” said Ishtiaq-Chen. “So I decided to create them myself. Simple as that.”
To encourage cross-cultural collaboration, Ishtiaq-Chen also introduced the San Francisco Disposable Film Festival, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco that showcases the works of international underground filmmakers, to the Shenzhen community.
“I just reached out to the Disposable Film Festival people, and said, ‘Hey, I’m in China, I’m doing this festival,’ and [being overseas] easily brings attention,“ said Ishtiaq-Chen.?
Ishtiaq-Chen hopes to build a community similar to what she had in New York.
She believes the art and film industry in Shenzhen are “booming” and it is the perfect time for innovators.
Ishtiaq-Chen said she wants to see more collaboration between Chinese filmmakers and foreign filmmakers.
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