Happy Veterans Day! Sign up for a $1 membership to Film IndependentIf there's a more innovative, surprising, enjoyable, and fun documentary than STARRING JERRY AS HIMSELF (2023), I haven't seen it this year. It's no surprise all those attributes could be used to describe my conversation with its director, Law Chen.In this episode, we discuss:how he got involved in filmmaking as a combination of growing up in China and the United States;how life in China influenced him today;how the intersection of filmmaking and advertising provides him a "cheat code" for making films people want to watch;how he takes a sledgehammer to normal documentary with STARRING JERRY AS HIMSELF (2023), a "genre-bending, docu-fiction about an ordinary immigrant dad retired in Florida who becomes a spy for the Chinese police";if there were people who didn't get the concept -- he finds that it is especially loved by "filmmakers and actors";if hybrid documentary and docu-fiction is the future of documentary;his thoughts on international film and when we get to global cinema rather than categorized filmmaking;what Chinese indie filmmaking is like and whether he feels a responsibility to tell these unique unheard stories;and how the immigrant experiences speaks to what he wants to accomplish in film. We conclude by discussing how he determines a feature versus a short ("if it's scenario-based, it's more of a short") and what's next for this groundbreaking filmmaker.Law's Indie Film Highlight: RAGING GRACE (2023) dir. by Paris ZarcillaLinks:Stream Now On Apple TVStream Now On Amazon PrimeStream Everywhere You Rent MoviesLaw Chen's WebsiteSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/first-time-go/exclusive-content