QUESTION#1: What about your film excites you the most?: For me, the most exciting thing about The Journal is the cast. Our two actors, Brian Delate and Elyse Dinh, have personal backgrounds that closely match with the characters they play. Brian is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and Elyse is a refugee of the war who moved to the US from Vietnam as a young girl. Both of them are incredible actors, and it felt so rewarding to have them portray characters that they connected with at their core.

QUESTION#2: What is it about your current movie that will influence your next film?: I'm more of a documentary guy, and this was my first foray into making a narrative film. In part, the experience scared me back in the direction of documentary, haha. But really, my next film will need to be as personally meaningful to me as this one was. I have a feature-length version of this film that's set in Vietnam, so maybe that's next.

QUESTION#3: When you’re shooting a film, do you think of time as something you capture or something you construct?: "Construct" feels like a more empowering verb, so I'll take that. With each take, I felt like we were nudging the characters more in the direction of where the film needed to go emotionally.

Aside from telling a story that explores the concepts of apologies, forgiveness, and remembrance in a way that moves me personally, I set out a filmmaking challenge for myself of making the audience cry in the span of a 12-minute short film. I think you have to intentionally aim for constructing something to possibly spark those sorts of emotions. Judging from the sniffles I have heard in the audience after each of our screenings, I think I have accomplished that goal to at least a minor degree.

QUESTION#4: What’s a limitation you wish you had on your next shoot that would force you into making interesting creative decisions?: I like the idea of setting challenges for myself. With my next film, I'd like to set a challenge to change the audience's mind about something.

QUESTION#5: If a film shoot is like a living organism, which department do you think functions as its nervous system?: I think the nervous system on our film was our assistant director Reed Viydo and script supervisor (and editor) Alex Hamlin. Those two made sure we moved at a steady clip and created the moments we needed to create without dilly-dallying.

Social media tags to share with our readers: @jamesandrewsfilms

5Q's w/: 5Q's w/: James Andrews "The Journal" Director, Writer, Producer