Director’s Production Notes
Michael Mahonen  - Writer/Director/Producer

I began writing the script for Sandstorm in late 2002. The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners had been ongoing for over three years and reports of deaths by torture were coming out of China daily as this mass scale human rights atrocity went gravely underreported.

I initially learned of Falun Gong through reading reports of the persecution in online newspapers in late 1999. Having never heard of Falun Gong, I was nonetheless unconvinced by the Chinese regime’s unsubstantiated labeling and name calling in an attempt to justify the persecution.

Two years later, upon opening the door to leave my apartment, I saw a simple black and white newsprint flier on the hallway floor in front of the door, with three large words, “Truth, Compassion, Forbearance”.

I wondered who was proclaiming these principles so directly and handing them door to door. I opened the flier to see it was about the practice of Falun Gong and raising awareness of the persecution. I checked it out online and eventually started doing the practice on my own at home.

I became involved in raising awareness of the persecution soon after starting to practice Falun Gong in February 2001. I had helped to organize and host public events, handed out fliers on the streets, peacefully appealed outside the Chinese consulate in Toronto and performed at events to raise awareness.

As a Falun Gong practitioner, I had read the teachings thoroughly. After doing some personal research, over time I had learned that all media and information in China is strictly controlled by the Chinese communist regime. As I saw the lies the regime had concocted about the practice in an attempt to justify the atrocities, it became clear that the people who are isolated by China’s information blockade were being deeply deceived about Falun Gong and the true nature of the persecution.

I then turned my sights toward raising awareness inside China, and wondering how I, as a Westerner who did not speak Mandarin, could possibly do this.

I explained my idea for a potential movie to some Chinese friends who are also practitioners of Falun Gong. I explained that the target audience would be the police in China who are actually being made to carry out the atrocities. They thought it was a good idea and agreed to translate the script into Chinese and to work with me in whatever way they were able to make it a reality.

 

I began preparations for production while the script was being translated into Chinese. Not having a crew or budget, I set out to learn whatever was necessary to make the movie in order to complete those tasks myself. I considered the limitations of potential locations when considering the shooting for each scene and the fact that there would likely not be a dolly or crane available for the shoot due to extreme budget limitations.

The reality at this point was that the multiple jobs normally taken on by the crew were going to be my responsibility. I looked at old daily call sheets from productions I had worked on as an actor. The call sheets had a page or two dedicated to the needs of the day such as specific props, particular costume notes, location notes, notes for the set and wardrobe departments or transportation notes. Using these as a reference, I went through the Sandstorm script and prepared what was necessary in all of the various departments for the production of the film.

A constant need to improvise during the shooting process would remain a continuing challenge through the entire production. A two day use of a dolly allowed for last minute insertions of dolly shots at one of the locations. Yellow crepe paper was used as a light filter to provide the bizarre lemon-yellowish glow of many sandstorms in China. The uniforms for the Chinese police were made from scratch as a free contribution of labour, using cheaply bought materials. Necessary props were collected from all manner of places.

I sent the script to David Chai, an Australian living in the U.S. who had professional film experience as a Director of Photography. David read the script and immediately agreed to work on the movie and bring along a DV camera he had on loan from friends in Australia.

I had several people in mind for specific roles, all Falun Gong practitioners and volunteers I had met briefly or were friends.

I didn’t know if they could act but I could tell from their individual energies and physical aspects that they were appropriate for the roles, and I had a sense that they could at least pull off passable performances if I worked with them. I knew for sure that they would put their hearts into it. However, I did not expect anywhere close to the calibre of performances that we ended up with.

I met with the cast and did a read through in Mandarin, getting a feel for what they were bringing in while following along in the English script. I worked individually with each cast member to help them understand their characters and what was happening in each scene on various levels so that they would be as prepared as possible when it was time to shoot.

I particularly worked with the person playing the lead role of Hetian Ying, who appears in every scene. I spent multiple hours over the span of two weeks with this one cast member, due to the complexity and demanding nature of the role. Three days before shooting was to start, that cast member had to pull out due to personal circumstances.

A meeting was called to discuss a replacement ASAP. The people who had volunteered to make up the completely inexperienced crew, met together to discuss a replacement. They suggested several Chinese names, some of whom I knew but did not think were right. Then someone said, “Lao Qi.” There was an immediate pause and then a chorus of “Lao Qi”, “Lao Qi”, “Lao Qi” in obvious favour of the idea.

I was assured that I would recognize Lao Qi when I saw him, and they were all very convinced that he was the guy for the role. I asked to meet with him, he was cast, and this turned out to be a brilliant suggestion, as he was not only perfect for the role, but also has a natural gift as an actor. What I still find amazing is that he had never acted before Sandstorm, not even in a school play as a child.

Shooting was delayed for a couple of days so that I could prepare Lao Qi (credit name: Rong Tian) for this very challenging role. One challenge was that Lao Qi spoke no more than several words of English. A translator was present during the rehearsal process and on set at all times during shooting.

My preparation with Lao Qi was on set. I would fill him in on the history preceding each scene, certain aspects of the character that were being touched upon, what the character wanted in each scene, the stakes for the character in each scene and sometimes give an indication of the level of intensity required. Being an actor myself was invaluable in this particular process, as these were all amateurs with little or no prior acting experience, and I was able to take them through a preparation process that helped them relax and feel confident in the scenes.

The translation process went very smoothly. By the second day of shooting the translator and I were talking in a steady flow as though there was no translator at all and Lao Qi was nodding his head in understanding before I was getting to the ends of sentences.

The production required constant flexibility. Shooting locations were all in the homes and basements of friends in Toronto and sometimes not chosen until the morning of a shoot. All locations were checked over to make sure as much as possible that there was nothing out of line with the reality in China.

There was a recommendation for one location I hadn’t seen yet, but we had not found an acceptable alternative so we had no other option. We all showed up there, cast and crew. I looked it over for a while and it just didn’t work, so I got on the phone. Within an hour we were in another location at a friend’s place, taking wall to wall shelving units out of a very packed basement as a last minute replacement. Improvising was a continual necessity.

The shooting was completed in two different stages lasting a total of 23 days. Schedules had to be adjusted to fit with the work needs of some of the volunteers with the small number of regular crew getting little sleep. I averaged about 3 hours of sleep per night and at times clocked in with an hour long snooze.

It was challenging, taking on many of the jobs at once, never having done any of them before while also directing for the first time. But it was also invaluable, as I got an intimate hands on education into the entire workings of the film mechanism.

As the crew was made up of inexperienced volunteers, I would teach them during any free moment in between shooting what I had learned about some of the multiple departments I had been looking after. Eventually volunteers took over the crafts of costume and props and most of the scheduling.

 

Post production was done, again by volunteers, who were familiar with Final Cut editing software. I found two appropriate photos of Beijing which were later animated with sandstorm effects by a man of Chinese descent living in Sweden whose father had been persecuted in China. He refused to accept any pay for his work.

The majority of the soundtrack is music composed by Falun Gong practitioners inspired by their practice of Falun Gong. The music originally had been posted on the internet before Sandstorm was even conceived for any who may be interested in listening. It was donated anonymously to the project for use in the film.

I chose a number of these pieces and cut sections, rearranged them and layered at certain times. Working with Corban Hu, the sound editor, we timed and matched the music to the edited scenes. On several occasions, I suggested that we begin to play one of the pre-recorded pieces at a particular spot in the visual edit and just let it play along with the video, to see how well it would sync and how much we would have to alter. Several times, the pieces fit into long segments of the film as though they had been specifically composed to match the edited scenes. Changes of pace and rhythm, and accents in the music would often happen at the exact moment of visual cuts in the film, leaving us amazed as we watched the music matching up to the edited film as though it had been intentionally created for those scenes. One piece matches perfectly for more than a four minute stretch and another for over two minutes, even crossing over into several different scenes while maintaining the sync.

The movie was completed to a state that was acceptable, but not yet completely polished, and then sent to its intended destination, that being Mainland China. The urgency of the situation dictated that the movie be sent ASAP, in the hopes that it would have a positive effect, particularly on the police who are carrying out the persecution.

Within a month of its completion the Falun Gong practitioners in China had successfully delivered copies to the police in China who then viewed it. This was verified when the twin sibling of one of the actors received a knock at their door. When they opened the door, a policeman was standing with a VCD (cheaper version of DVD) in his hand and asked, “Is this you in this movie?” The person was not harmed after explaining the situation.

 

The selfless dedication of all involved in the project to communicate this ongoing persecution through film allowed us to complete the project for under $5000. While still a work in progress, Sandstorm screened at 58 film festivals and received 29 awards. I attended approximately 25 festival screenings which were followed by audience questions. Sandstorm has been subtitled in 14 languages with further translations in progress as interest grows throughout the world.

Sandstorm will be released this fall by Requisite Films, where it will hopefully make a wider impact.

 

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