A Dog Barking at the Moon
Directed by Lisa Zi Xiang, A Dog Barking at the Moon was selected at the 69th edition of Berlinale for the Panorama section, it won the Teddy Award Special Jury Prize, as well as the Best Narrative Film in Toronto InsideOut Film Festival, Best Feature Film at Seoul Women Film Festival and around 30 selections worldwide.
Making your first film is no easy task. Thankfully, Lisa and I had each other to make it happen.
While A Dog Barking at the Moon is considered a low-budget film, our original plan was to finance it by taking out a mortgage on our apartment in Beijing. Once people realized how serious we were about making this film, a few stepped in to help bring it to life. Shot in Beijing over 18 days on a shoestring budget that felt like a universe to us, we optimized every minute, every yuan, every take, while making sure nobody worked more than 12-hour shooting days and that everyone was well fed.
The result was a happy set, smooth (though not easy) shooting days, and a film we are both incredibly proud of.
Like every independent film, there are two stories: the one you watch, and the one it takes to bring into existence.
The first one, you can watch on Amazon, Filmin, or Apple TV.
The second one, you can read here.
