When Amy Tiong ’14 was selected last November as part of Bustle Digital Group's New Filmmakers Series, she was given the opportunity to create a short film that would offer viewers a glimpse into aspects of her own life.
For Amy, the result was Bitter Sweet — a three-minute and 14-second film she and her two-person crew shot in less than three days last December. In the video, Amy evokes her experiences as a young Asian-American woman and the role that food can play in helping to shape identity.
In Bustle’s open competition, the New York-based publishing group had invited filmmakers younger than 30 to pitch their ideas for films that would focus on underrepresented subjects — “something,” Amy said, “that you thought could only be caught on film by you.”
As part of the competition, each filmmaker’s entry had to include a digital outline of the proposed film, samples of the filmmaker’s previous film work, and a resume or CV. Amy is a 2018 graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film & Television and a double minor in Psychology and Entertainment Business.
Amy credits her Westover experiences — especially working with Theatre Program Director Marla Truini, Technical Director Ian Diedrich, and former Dance Director Patti Buchanan — for encouraging her to pursue her interest in the arts. While a student at Westover, Amy also took part in a filmmaking course at Tisch that allowed her to travel to the New York campus, which served as a prelude to her later attending Tisch as a Gates Millennium Scholar.
As Amy was first developing her proposal for the filmmakers’ competition, she asked herself both practical questions — “What can I shoot in a pandemic with a limited crew on a subject I know directly?” — and artistic questions — “Can I dig inside myself and what do I want to say?”
Amy realized that in her film she could touch on her experiences of being the child of Asian-American immigrants and reflect on her evolving understanding of “body positivity” and her changing relationship with food. She also knew that she wanted the resulting film — which she described as a work of “docu-fiction” — to capture her theme symbolically, “but I also wanted to add some elements of realism to it.”
Amy submitted her pitch to Bustle and then, a few weeks later, was notified that they had selected her as a winner of the competition.
“They were really excited by my proposal,” Amy recalled. In addition to their encouragement, Bustle provided a budget of several thousand dollars to cover the costs of her crew, equipment, and related expenses, as well as professional feedback and guidance throughout the filming and editing process.
The filming was shot in locations primarily in New York City and upstate New York, with one scene filmed in her parents’ former restaurant in Waterbury as well as a short scene in Newtown.
In the course of the filming process, Amy said, “Bustle was a huge help. They coordinated the budget for hiring the crew and securing the locations. My director of photography was Briana Man, someone I knew from NYU whom I had worked closely with.”
Other than “two tiny lines I had spoken for my thesis film,” Amy said, Bitter Sweet also marked the first time that she was directing herself on camera.
Although Amy felt comfortable as the director, “it was a very hectic three days of filming,” she noted, as they traveled and set up from location to location. “And because I shot the film in December,” she added with a laugh, “I was really cold all the time.” There was one scene they shot of Amy in a bathtub that was filmed at 10 o’clock at night, which made for a “grueling” experience.
But, reflecting on the overall experience of both directing and performing in the film, Amy said, “It was challenging, but I didn’t realize how much I would actually enjoy it. You have to get into a different mindset while filming. And I love being on set. My adrenaline kicks in. And even though I had to wear two different hats, I knew the story so well.”
Amy said her contacts at Bustle were supportive throughout the process and left the details of filming and editing up to her. Her collaboration with Bustle’s producers, the graphic designer, and editors also gave her experience “on how to work with a corporate team. You recognize that you give up some control,” she added, but it is a valuable experience for a filmmaker.
“It was a good working relationship,” Amy said. “They really wanted to enhance my voice and give me the confidence to say what I wanted.”
After all, she explained, “It was my personal experience. I was trying to be vulnerable and being very open and being honest to my own story.”
Bitter Sweet debuted on Bustle’s YouTube channel on March 17. Amy and her film were featured in an interview on the company’s Elite Daily platform. She was also interviewed on NBC Connecticut’s news program and was the subject of an article on the front page of the arts section of Waterbury’s Republican-American.
The response Amy has received both to her film itself and the resulting news coverage has been gratifying. “I was kind of shocked. It was very heartwarming when people were saying that they could relate to the film.”
Amy is also pleased that her film is able to offer a fresh and more diverse perspective on how Asians and Asian Americans are depicted in the media. “How the media generally has portrayed Asian women has been very alarming,” she said, relying on stereotypes such as mathematical geniuses or so-called Tiger Moms. The positive response she has received to her film “just reinforces my commitment to help represent people and voices that haven’t been represented.”
“If I don’t add my own small voice,” Amy noted, “how can I expect other people to do so?”
Currently Amy is working as an assistant to a Broadway producer while pursuing a master’s degree in Nutrition; she hopes to become a certified nutrition specialist, while still pursuing her filmmaking work.
To keep up with Amy’s work, you can follow her @amybtiong or at amybtiong.com
(Photo portrait of Amy Tiong by Lucy Smith-Williams)
