"Hi everyone! Thank you so much for supporting Bao! Chongqing has a very special place in my heart as it is my birth city and where a lot of my family still live. I’m so happy I was able to share a little bit of the city to the world in the dishes in Bao, and I hope to keep making you all proud and hungry in the future!"
------Domee Shi, hours before the 91st Oscars Awards Ceremony
Domee Shi (Photo from The Disney Blog)
Chongqing- On the eve of the 91st Oscars Awards Ceremony, iChongqing interviewed Domee Shi, the director of Bao, the Best Animated Short Film Nominee in 2019 Academy Award. She shared the story on making Bao, her love for parents and Chongqing city where she was born, and her understanding of Chinese culture as an immigrant grew up in Cannada. As the first female director of a Pixar short film and an upcoming Pixar feature film, Domee Shi also talked about her plan in the next project, What's more, Shi has a short greeting for her followers in her birthplace: I hope to keep making you all proud and hungry in the future!
iChongqing: What inspired you to write a story about the love between a parent and a steamed bun (baozi)? Did your mother often cook steamed buns at home?
Domee Shi: I was inspired by my own life growing up as an only child. I felt like my parents always treated me like their precious little baozi, and I remember always being very frustrated and wanting freedom. I wrote the story of Bao from the mother’s perspective to try to understand my parents’ feelings a little better.
Making baozi and jiaozi was a big part of my relationship with my mother growing up, and I wanted to show how important the connection between food and family is in this short film.
Baozi, or steamed bun (Photo credit to Pixar)
iChongqing: I think we were all shocked to see the mother smothering her little baby to death, it feels like a very extreme expression of her love and her fear of losing. How did you arrive at the imagery of this scene?
Domee Shi: One of the very first images that popped into my head while writing Bao was the mother eating her bao in desperation. That moment was also inspired by my mother--she’d often say “Oh Domee, I wish I could put you back in my stomach so I can keep you with me forever!”. It seemed like an inevitable end to the relationship between the mother and the baozi. She wanted to keep it from leaving her! I also wanted to shock and surprise audiences, and give them something to think about long after the film was over.
Mom swallows her bao in tears (Photo credit to Pixar)
iChongqing: We’re very impressed with the table of food the mom cooked for Bao. Boiled fish in red chili oil, stir-fried green beans, and many other dishes. Is there any significance to the choice of dishes, we’ve been told your own mother was a big part of this story? Was she involved in any other way with the production?
Domee Shi: All the dishes are some of my favorite dishes that my parents made for me growing up, and I wanted to pay tribute to them in the short. A lot of them are local dishes, as both my parents are from Southwest China (my mother from Chongqing Municipality, my father from Mianyang in Sichuan Province).
My mother played a significant role in the production of the short--we brought her into Pixar twice to do baozi making classes for the crew. We filmed her cooking techniques and used it as a reference for the animators and effects artists. It was important for us to get the little cooking details as accurately as possible in the short so the characters felt real and believable even though their designs are so cartoony.
Mom prepares so many delicious foods for her bao. (Photo credit to Pixar)
iChongqing: How much did your parents influence you growing up, in terms of learning about Chinese culture? Did you often eat spicy Chinese food, did you mother cook hot pot or did your father teach you painting or calligraphy?
Domee Shi: My parents were a huge influence on me, both culturally and artistically. Even though I lived in Canada for most of my life, my parents still spoke Chinese to me at home and cooked Chinese food for me. I loved my mom’s baozi and jiaozi, and my dad’s spicy hot pot.
My dad, Le Shi, is a painter and art professor, and still teaches now and then at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing. He taught me drawing and painting from a young age, got me excited about art, and encouraged me to apply to animation school. I definitely owe my artistic talents to him.
iChongqing: As the first female director of a Pixar short film and an upcoming Pixar feature film, is there anything about your career that you can share with others? Have you had any particular hardships getting to where you are now?
Domee Shi: I just feel so incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given in my career, and I owe a lot of it to the people at Pixar who believed in me. I’m especially thankful to Pete Docter, who was an early supporter of the short, and of my unique voice at the studio.
Different expressions of Bao (Photo credit to Pixar)
The path my career has taken has been so unexpected, but the one thing I can say that has helped me along the way is that I always tried to challenge myself by putting myself in uncomfortable situations--volunteering for the most difficult assignments, working on extra ideas to show directors on top of the work assigned to me, speaking up in meetings and not being afraid to get my ideas rejected, even volunteering to do speaking engagements at schools or events even though I was terrified of public speaking. All of those experiences helped me grow immensely, and also made me stand out.
iChongqing: When Bao was nominated for the 91st Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, how did you react when you got the news? Have you given any thoughts to your speech if you win?
Domee Shi: I was so nervous the night before that I decided not to wake up early to watch the nominations being read live. So I woke up the next day to my phone blowing up with dozens of texts from my friends and colleagues, congratulating me. I was so excited and in complete shock--it felt like the rest of the day was a hazy dream. I couldn’t believe it!
The academy suggested we all practice our acceptance speeches so we’re prepared, so my producer and I have done that. It feels weird though--you don’t expect to win, but you have to fully be prepared in case you do!
iChongqing: What is your big plan in the next project?
Domee Shi: I’m currently directing a feature film at Pixar, and it’s still in the early stages.
iChongqing: Have you ever returned to Chongqing? Do you think there is a chance of you making a movie about- or in the city of Chongqing in the future?
Domee Shi: The last time I visited was in 2015! I definitely need to go back more often--it’s such a beautiful city. And the food is so good too! I really like Chongqing noodles and fish head hot pot--you can’t find that in America.
Even though I have no plans to make a film about/in Chongqing right now, I wouldn’t say no to the possibility! I’m sure there are so many interesting stories to find through the streets there.
（Acknowledgements to Krissy Bailey, Dongyan Chen, Xinyi Li, and Mikkel Stig Larsen)
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