As a continuation of last week’s interview of Louise Bak, the co-writer of The Ache, we meet the director of the film, Keith Lock. Keith Lock is a Toronto-based film writer and director. He graduated from York University with a M.F.A in film and has worked on producing many documentaries and short films. His earlier work include a documentary of Chinatown as well as The Brighter Moon, a short film created in 1987 which was nominated for a Gemini in the Best Short Drama category. His first film festival movie, Small Pleasures, premiered in 1993 and received a theatrical release on CBC’s Cinema Canada in 1995. With filmmaking experiences dating back to 1981, Keith has directed and written over a dozen completed projects. This year, with Louise Bak, Keith directed and co-wrote The Ache, featured in this year’s Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival.

Who did you idolize growing up? Whether it be film-related or not, and why?

I don’t think I truly idolized anyone growing up...except just the usual pop stars when I was in secondary school.

How and when did you know you wanted to go into film?

In high school I use to make 8mm films with a friend. This allowed me to hang out with Toronto indie filmmakers after our films won some awards in Europe. At the time of 1969, film was an exciting new medium.

Do you have a muse or source of inspiration? e.g. Music, reading, walks on the beach, playing sports, people around you or in the media ... etc

I wouldn’t really call it a muse, but when things are feeling stale, I like to take my laptop and write in really busy cafes.

Is there anything about your ethnicity or background that you believe has influenced your vision in making films or is perhaps attributable to your approach to filmmaking?

In the seventies, I was really involved with the incredible experimental scene in Toronto, and at the time there was almost no other Asians around. As a student I once visited the office of Norman McLaren in Montreal. When I went to his office, he had many posters of different Chinese characters hanging on the wall behind his work table. He saw a deep conceptual relationship between the pictures—which are the Chinese characters—and how they represent complex ideas. Whenever things got discouraging, I would sometimes think of this and it would give me courage. It validated my feelings about myself as a Chinese Canadian filmmaker.

Which aspect of your environment (i.e. where you were born/raised; your home life) had a significant impact on your perspectives - ultimately revealing itself in your work?

My dad owned a drugstore on Dundas [Street, Toronto], in Chinatown. He had a darkroom in the basements and that was where I learned to develop and enlarge films. When I first started making 8mm films, my dad would give me out-dated rolls of film. That’s also where I started making my dramatic films at York University. Growing up, it was a very safe and interesting environment for me.

Can you give us a quick synopsis of your feature film for this year's Reel Asian?

The Ache is about a 20-year-old Chinese Canadian girl, Sheri Lam. One day, she finds a strange woman searching through her parent’s garbage. This incident sets her on a quest to find the truth about herself, her parents and the woman—a journey which she finds she is living a strange world of ancient Chinese erotic legend.

What were your goal(s) in making this film? What kind of message(s) do you want to send to your viewers?

I worked with poet Louise Bak, and because it is a story that was very close to her life experiences, I wanted to tell the essential “truth” of this story. I wasn’t really trying to convey a message because when things get really strange, it’s a victory just to survive.

What style do you take more to through the process of making this film? Are you more analytical and methodical (i.e. plan every stage and have it executed as such)? Or are you a more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of artist?

I think I’m a little bit of both. As a filmmaker you have to plan your work because there are so many logistical variables and concerns. At the beginning of this production, I created a storyboard for only a few key scenes, which I felt really needed to be visually planned. Because the actors knew what to expect, there was some spontaneous aspects involved. In fact, there are a couple really nice improvised scenes, as well as some things that were written on the set. In the end, we mostly kept to the script.

Was the process of filmmaking always smooth-running? If not, what happened and how did you deal with it?

Making indie films on a no-to-low-budget is never smooth running. I had a great producing team of Maurizio Chen and Elena Nañes, who dealt with situations with me as they arose. I can’t say enough about their work because they shielded me from the crazy things that always happen, so that I could concentrate on directing. About a third of the film is night exteriors, the most challenging type of scenes logistically. I remember we were filming in the street on nights that dipped to minus 20 degrees, and the location had no dryer or gas stove, so there was nowhere we could get electricity to run our powerful lights. Maurizio had to knock on house doors asking if we could plug in our lights to their dryer. Fortunately, someone said yes, so we were able to start shooting. As a filmmaker, your basic assumption is that things will not run smoothly.

What advice would you give prospective filmmakers out there?

They often know more that I do. I would ask them to teach me some of what they know.

By Christina Jung for Schema Magazine.

The Ache is screening on Sunday November 15, 2009, 5:30 PM at Innis Town Hall

Filmmaker Profiles are done in partnership with Schema Magazine.