Birthing
Feature Film
The Tree Knows
J. Wang is currently writing and producing her third feature film The Tree Knows, a magic realism and romance comedy. The film follows the fate of a Bodhi Tree which is transplanted from China to Canada to Argentina, metaphorically referring to the protagonist April Lin’s self growth and reflection. April Lin who came from the Chinese Moussa minority matriarchal clan “Women’s Kingdom”, is a PhD candidate in the Anthropology Department of the University of Toronto and a feminist leader advocating female empowerment. Her research on “Macho-ism in Argentine Tango” uncovers the historical existence of female leaders in Tango history and argues the necessity and inevitability of feminist leadership in society.This induces an earthquake to the Tango community and to her life as well. The story humorously stages a romantic comedy through the intensive gender rivalry in Tango dance. The art of Tango is cleverly used to connect the emotions of different genders, races, and cultures, and insightfully depicts the emotional resonance and spiritual growth in cultural diversity.
J. Wang began studying Tango in 2014 and started an annual sabbatical to Buenos Aires, Argentina to practise Tango dance and build on her research. Initially conceived in 2016, with the deepening understanding of the art of Tango and the culture of Argentine society, The Tree Knows script was consolidated by the end of 2019.
Early 2020, while J. Wang was rehearsing the dance scenes for the film in Buenos Aires, the COVID-19 global pandemic forced her to suspend the project. The unexpected global shutdown and isolation inspired her to continue writing. She integrates the 2020 viral pandemic into the story and incorporates the life and death struggle between humans and virus through the dramatic Tango journey, enticing the deep reflection of human existence in relation to and with Nature.
The film will be shot in Toronto, Buenos Aires and Luguo Lake in Yunnan, China. It is a highly anticipated trans-national cultural and artistic collaboration. Currently, the project is in the stage of script finalization and financing preparation. (© reserved)
J. Wang on Character Creation of April Lin
The female protagonist of The Tree knows
Born and raised in the “Women’s Kingdom” in China Yunnan Luguo Lake matriarchal area, Chinese Mosuo woman April Lin never knew her father. Lost her mother at childbirth, fosterd by the collective motherhood, she grew into an independent thinker and intelligent feminist. She remains hopelessly innocent, a female version of Apollo equipped with logic, knowledge, courage and tenacity as her sword, unyieldingly determines to live up her matriarchal spirit.
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While studying for a PhD in anthropology at the University of Toronto, she leads a women's empowerment movement, resulting in her PhD thesis on Feminist Advancement being shelved by the conservative board of professors, marking it as a “naive fallacy”. Nourished in the soil of Western democracy, such a resilient Eastern soul will not give up easily. But to confront the male dominated board, she needs to sway the majority.
Whether for blessing or curse, she encounters Tango! Tango is like a mother, portraying the emotional struggle and power juggle between genders on the male controlled dance floor through the intensive dance and the passionate lyrics. The desire for love, knowledge, and conquest prompts her to learn this intricate dance and explore the complex social and historical roots of the sexism behind the scenes. By learning to dance the lead in Tango, she realizes that a woman who wants to be a leader must not only possess the knowledge and courage of a man, but also must carry forward feminine characteristics of softness and inclusiveness to make up for what men lack to overcome hatred and division. She needs to discover deeper her female self-worth.
As fate would have it, she meets Lewis, a chauvinistic professor, her opponent in academia. The vulnerability hiding under his hardened shell softens her tone. She lowers her sword and leads him back to the Tango floor, where they learn the collaboration of equal footing to unit their minds and moves through the music of the intensive Tango duet. She not only successfully integrates her feminist expression into this macho dance, but also gains raw knowledge of men and unexpectedly falls in love! The feminist and the chauvinist become united!
Her effusive feminine divine power combined with her rational intelligence successfully resolves Lewis’ family animosities and the feuds in Tango community. She not only wins his love, but also the support of the Tango community for her doctoral dissertation on Feminist Advancement! She graduates with honours! No longer a young Apollo, nor a naive feminist, she evolves into a true woman, whose matriarchal inclusive spirit has been carried forward. The Eastern "Tree" thrives in the Canadian soil, roots down, branches up, in search of the harmony of the universe. This is not a “naive fallacy” but a promising allegory. (@ reserved)
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J. Wang on Character Creation of Lewis Jansky
The male protagonist of The Tree Knows
<a href='https://pngtree.com/so/jew'>jew png from pngtree.com</a>
A graduate from Oxford University, Lewis Jansky is a brilliant Canadian anthropology professor at University of Toronto. For lack of social grace, he is often mistaken for an arrogant male intellectual. He always joked that he was a "marginalized white male."
As the story progresses, we learn that Lewis is actually an introverted, depressed descendant of Argentine Jews. As his first lover abandoned him to follow Tango, he tried to forget his Argentine ancestry and belittle Tango. He developed prejudices against women. His devoted but aggressive mother forced him to return to religion and their cultural tradition, which caused him to further rebel. In addition, the historical prejudice and persecution of Jews made Lewis subconsciously resist the distorted image of "wandering Jews”. He tried to create a refined and witty image, which bewildered admirers, often with fruitless love affairs. Pride, inferiority, intelligence, paranoia, decisiveness and hisatation coexist in contradiction within his injured soul - a latent male chauvinist.
His encounter with the feminist April is a harsh conflict, a fierce Tango. She convinces him to return to his hometown Buenos Aires to confront the "murderer of his father", seek the truth of his family history, and draw his courage out as a man, like his ancestor Gauchos. He joins the fight against the political powers to support April’s Feminist Tango show. The transformation reveals his true self, a brave soul inherited from his ancestor is numbed by the pragmatism of modern society. During the healing journey home, he rediscovers his courage and strengthens his sense of responsibility for life and for others. The near fatal romance unites him with April, the “Wandering Jew" no longer wanders, he casts off his self imposed shackles and re-writes his relationship with history and future from a fresh, bright and prosperous perspective. (@ reserved)
