Her reputation precedes her so even when she’s doing an indie film, agents pick up her calls. LK: I have to give nearly all credit to our amazing and super well-respected casting director Emily Schweber. This is as close to an indie cinema “all-star cast” as I can recall in recent memory. People come out with big smiles and it seems like people - with all the troubles in the world nowadays - have needed that.ĪF: Tell us how you assembled that remarkable cast and crew. And I guess people don’t get to use those adjectives as often in movies and they have been really, really excited by it. It has a lot of humor and it’s a comedy, but we hear a lot about how it’s a genuine movie, and charming and heartfelt. LK: It’s been amazing to see how excited people are to see a heartfelt movie. Is “comfort cinema” (and for the purposes of this chat, “Asian American comfort cinema”) such as THE TIGER HUNTER something that filmgoers either need or appreciate (or both) in this day and age? And, just as importantly, I thought it would be lame if the main character Sami comes to America, has a hard time, and immediately whips out his iPhone to WhatsApp somebody back home for help!ĪF: I hadn’t actually seen your past film works, but THE TIGER HUNTER is certainly a warm-hearted movie, and plays well to a multi-generational audience. I chose because it seemed to be a time of community, and a closer connection between even strangers - and it seemed we could use a little of that. LK: I chose Chicago because it was one of the main center points of the Indian diaspora in the 1960s and ‘70s, and it didn’t distract in the way a place like California would, where I’d have to show the mandatory “main character looking at glitzy palm trees” shot. Why Chicago? Why the late 1970s? And more importantly, HOW were you able to sustain the belief that your film was shot and based in Chicago? For example, you don’t work as intensively with actors in music videos, so to prepare for the film I did a very, very intensive six week directing fellowship with amazing producer and directing mentor Joan Scheckel, who has worked with everyone from Jonathon Dayton and Valerie Faris (LITTLE MISS SUNSHNE) to Jill Soloway (TRANSPARENT). And as for the nerve, it came from either being a little foolhardy, or ambitious - but not sure which! I guess when you don’t know what the obstacles are, and how hard things are (or you don’t listen to people who tell you that)…you figure in your mind that it is something achievable.ĪF: The city of Chicago is as much a “star” of THE TIGER HUNTER as was your cast, yet it seems that not a single shot was made in The Windy City. LK: Doing shorts and music videos was helpful in building skills and being comfortable shooting…but there were still many things I had to learn. Did your background as a director of short films and music videos give you the sufficient preparation for undertaking such a huge step up in your filmmaking career? And how did you work up the nerve to tackle such an ambitious project? They have played such a generous hand in helping us promote and spread the word, and I don’t know where we’d be without them.ĪF: Let’s step back a bit and talk a bit about the making of THE TIGER HUNTER.
We owe a lot of this success to the festivals that supported us and gave us the light of day during our festival run, and it’s been crucial - both from a matter of integrity and strategy - to work closely with these festivals and their supporting organizations in promoting the film.
Lena Khan: It’s a huge opening, and we are excited but nervous! We are opening in over 50 cities, and we are set to play in over 70 after a bit and maybe more. How extensive an opening will this be, and how important will it be to reconnect with all the new friends you and your producers made during THE TIGER HUNTER’s festival run last year to ensure its success? al., the significance of Khan - an Indian Canadian filmmaker and alumnus of the UCLA School of Film, Television, and Digital Media - as a South Asian woman director/screenwriter NOT named Mira Nair took center stage, as did her motivations for setting her story in 1970s Chicago.Ībraham Ferrer: First off Lena, congratulations on the impending theatrical release on Sept. While the following conversation with Visual Communications staff member Abraham Ferrer delves only obliquely with the lingering controversies over THE BIG SICK and MASTER OF NONE, et.