“I Hope They Leave Feeling Uncomfortable.“ Sundance 2020 Interview With HIGH TIDE Writer/Director Veronica Chen

After Sundance Film Festival 2020 ended I was able to chat with writer/director Veronica Chen for the tense film High Tide, one that I was able to catch during my time there. We discussed her ambitions with the film and where the story came from:

Kristy Strouse for Film Inquiry: Congratulations on the film!

As both writer and director, where did the idea for the film come from? Any personal experience?

Veronica Chen: The idea of these two characters coming together, and how, I imagined, and envisioned how it could turn out. Their nature as characters are a mix of different people I know or come across and impress me.

The script is an intriguing one, how did you go about trying to display the differences in gender and class?

Veronica Chen: Once I had the characters, their nature and circumstance clear, I let them play out their interactions. See what would happen when they were joined in conflict. So, they displayed on their own their differences in class and gender as they played out the actions.

I loved the photography within the film, I think it went well with the tonal changes as the movie progressed. How much did you collaborate on the process, did you have a certain vision in mind?

Veronica Chen: DoP Fernando Lockett and I worked together on the preparation of the shooting for a long time. I tend to work a lot on the visual aspect of a film with the cinematographer. And I like to invent new ways of shooting a scene. In this case we had to multiply the possibilities of angles to shoot the almost single location we worked in, and this required much thinking. And it was also a big question how the aerials would match with the rest of the film.

Can you tell us a bit about your process as a writer? How long, the editing/revision process.

Veronica Chen: It depends on the film. The script of High Tide was written fairly fast, and then re-written and corrected when the actual shooting was going to happen and when the main actors were in place and I could rehearse.

What was the casting like, did you have Gloria in mind?

Veronica Chen: Gloria and I have worked together 4 times before, and she never had a lead role in my films, so I was very keen on having her on board as Laura.

Are there any writers/ directors you love that have inspired you?

Veronica Chen: Haneke. Haneke. Haneke.

Terrific! What was it like being accepted to Sundance?

Veronica Chen: I was very happy. I had attended Sundance before with my first film Smokers Only in the Midnight Specials Section, and 4 films later we were being selected in main Official Selection, so in a way I knew what it was like and in a way I expected something very different, which was how it turned out. It was great for the film and for me personally.

What are you hoping the audience will leave the theater feeling?

Veronica Chen: I hope they leave feeling uncomfortable. Maybe a bit ashamed even. Puzzled. Confused. All this would be my aim as filmmaker.

I understand, and I think that rings true. You’ve been involved with film (short or feature) for a long time. How do you feel it has changed over time? Do you feel this story is especially relevant now?

Veronica Chen: Cinema is rather new, when you compare it to the other art forms. And I think the main issues that concern us as human beings are much the same over time: love, death, power, sex, money. These things move us today and have done so since a long time ago. I feel High Time addresses themes of love, power, money and sex in another spin, and maybe that is the art of storytelling and of cinema, just to find another form to the oldest question of all: What before we die?

I agree, thanks again!

We would like to thank Veronica Chen for speaking with us.

Check out our review for High Tide here.