The Multitudes Within Us / the films
Yun Qi Wong
I love coming up with themes for my projects and finding the red threads connecting pieces together which at first glance might have nothing to do with each other. I love researching these as well as coming up with design and texts for each respective publicity collateral, and finally presenting the concerts with a narrative. Each of these become my babies as I work on them over months, bringing them from fuzzy sketches and fantasies into life.
This project however, has been my obsession for the past three (!!) years, bringing things to a whole new level. In a way its accompanied, inspired and catalysed my personal development. Its made me reflect deeply, question myself, get to know myself better and taken me right out of my comfort zone.
I no longer know exactly how I came to the theme of “The Multitudes Within Us” (in german: Zwiegespräch - die Stimmen in uns). All I now know and realise is this: for so many years I have been putting labels on myself, sticking myself into a few definite categories - not just professionally but also in my personal life - and therefore essentially cutting myself away from the endless possibilities out there.
Diving deeper into the project made me realise how much I craved to produce a series of films that would offer not just an audio experience, but also a visual glimpse into the world of '“The Multitudes Within Us” - the worlds that exist in us. So here it is - after months of planning, brainstorming, emails and phone calls. 57893 hours of prop making/sourcing, location scouting. 3 full days of actual filming. 1 day of sound recording. 2349872998768 hours of editing - our first film, accompanied by a series of behind the scene shots taken by my husband. We ended up with this film offering a little glimpse into the multitudes that exist within us. There are so many more, but you get the idea. Obviously this is a very personal interpretation, but perhaps you might identify too with some of them….
what´s left of us at the end of our lives...? how have we existed? the search for our selves leads us to this incredible mishmash of multitudes, existing all at the same time within us...
the rebel. the wild child. the one with her head up in the clouds, dreaming up a thousand different fantasies all at once. the fun-loving one, all full of sass. our inner child. the focused one, obsessed with straight lines and keeping order. the brooding girl with the dark thoughts. the free spirit, floating through life´s journey, never once touching ground. the sleepless one, tossing and turning.
they are all part of us. they make us who we are - unique, and wonderfully incomplete.
I was incredibly lucky to work with filmmaker Isabel Robson on these films. Not only did Isabel bring to life many of my wild ideas, some of which I never imagined would be possible (but still went ahead to suggest anyway..), but she also brought her special touch of magic to them in ways that always made me go “wow” and “YES”. I loved working together with her, can think of no better person to have done these films with.
We were also blessed with the support of our two dreamy locations where we were able to work to our heart´s content without being disturbed, the talented makeup artist Maria Schwerdtfeger, and a small but strong team of assistants (aka very selfless and super motivated friends and my husband!) who helped do everything from making/sourcing props, driving us around for hours, keeping us on tight schedules, to collecting leaves, cleaning up locations, the list goes on…
Hope you enjoy this film as much as we did producing it. Our little labour of love.
Much love,
Yun Qi
Filmmaker / Isabel Robson
Sound Engineer / Oliver Rogalla von Heyden
Music / Felix Leuschner, Robert Schumann
Texts / Agnes Chew, “The Desire for Elsewhere”
Make-up / Maria Schwerdtfeger
Assistants / Chun Yi Yeo, Claus Blänkner, and Yvonne Peckmann-Haarstick
Special thanks / Stechinelli Carré, Kletterwald Nord