One thing I remember about Schindler’s List is that there was a lot of swelling music in the background. And I appreciated, in your movie, that the soundtrack was so spare, with a lot of quiet moments and natural sound.
Yes, I designed this on purpose. I didn’t want my audience to be overwhelmed by music in the background. I felt it was extremely important, for people to trust the space and time I was showing. I felt that the soundtrack was another character in the movie. It’s invisible, but you can feel it.

Have you had any reactions from Japanese people who’ve seen the movie?
There’s a big population of Japanese people living in China, and those people have reacted very favorably when they’ve seen the movie. We’re still looking for a chance to release it in Japan.

In film school, you wrote your dissertation on Francis Ford Coppola. Do you have a favorite movie of his?
My absolute favorite is Apocalypse Now. That movie is pretty much a bible for me, though I also love The Godfather. I chose Francis Ford Coppola because he came up within the industry system but managed to be an independent filmmaker, an auteur. He writes his own movies, he’s independent, but he works in Hollywood. I wanted to know how he achieved this because I’m a filmmaker in China, working in a country that’s controlled by the Communist Party. I wanted to learn from Coppola. Now I’ve spent ten years in the Chinese film industry, but I think I’m still an independent director. The reason is that ten years ago I spent two years studying Francis Ford Coppola.