an interview with TEEN PRODUCER ACADEMY ALUMNI KUNGA CHOEPHEL

A few years back, Kunga Choephel, created his first films as a part of Maysles’ Teen Producers Academy (TPA). Now, he’s an award-winning filmmaker with a feature length documentary in post-production. One of our cinema interns, Julia Carrigan, spoke with him about his path to filmmaking, recent accolades, and the impact of TPA.

TPA will be accepting applications for yearlong & summer intensive programs in 2021

This interview has been edited for length.

Julia Carrigan: When did you start doing film and when did you know it was what you wanted to do?

Kunga Choephel: I grew up in India in a boarding school until like 8th grade and then I came to America and I took public school here. But back in boarding school, there were no TVs allowed. The only time we were allowed to have TVs was afternoon on Friday and on Saturday. So those two days when we had the TVs they would usually play movies. They would always play some kind of escapist film– you know like James Bond or Jackie Chen or something. I just found myself looking forward to those days, cause it was a really good time watching those films with my friends and what not. There was just one big room with 50 beds, and what would happen was there was one small TV and we would all just crowd around and watch it. That became a very special experience for me. 

I didn’t think about it as a career option like at all– it was just a very cool thing to look forward to. And, you know, when I came to America, in high school, I was having a crisis– like what the f*ck am I going to do? I wasn’t necessarily passionate about anything, I was just floating in and out of things.

So during those years where I wasn’t passionate, I was on Youtube a lot and I came across video essays on films. There was more than entertainment to films. So that kind of opened up a whole different layer with those two days in boarding school where I got to watch TV. Because, like, oh yeah those were fun. But it’s more than that. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

But I had no resources at my high school. We had no art classes– it was purely a STEM school. There is no middle way and no space for creative people. So one of my teachers in high school recommended Maysles [Documentary Center]. And I just wanted to try it out. Once I got to Maysles, I really loved it. I loved it so much because there was so much space for ambiguity. There was no correct answer. 

So that was one of the reasons I really loved filmmaking and then I really fell in love with the production element of filmmaking– collaborating with people and what not. That’s something I was never exposed to in high school where it was you are right or you are wrong. You know, when you’re on set, you can be right, but the other person can also be right, so let’s talk about it. From there on, I got the film bug fully. 

JC: Can you tell me a bit more about your film This Is Closest To How The Last Few Weeks of March Felt Like, which you made this year and was featured on The Short of The Week?

KC: That was filmed at the end of the semester, when Covid was really picking up. The school decided to shut down the campus and send everyone back. I decided to stay on campus because I wasn’t sure if I had it or not and there was no way for me to get tested. So I decided to stay and not spread it to my dad. So it was just me and maybe a dozen other students living on campus. It was a dark place. It was super quiet and super gloomy.

I was having multiple conversations with my dad about what was going on there and what’s up. Cause even before college, financially, we were pretty f*cked. We’re living day to day. My dad’s an Uber driver. And then since Covid hit, he couldn’t work for some time. And I was just asking, I was worried about him, like what’s up, what’s up, what’s up? And he would answer but he would answer in a way that everything was okay. And he would try to hide things from me and I would do the same thing. The way we showed our affection to each other was lying to each other. 

And that really hit me. At a time of being so vulnerable, and I was like, “I’ve got to do something.” I’ve got to let all this emotion in me come up. I got to write the script based on what we were talking about and having to act that with your father– it was a very cathartic experience. And he got that. But he never said fully that he got that. He dropped hints that he knew what I was doing, and him saying “Yes,” was like saying “I see what you’re doing, Kunga and yes, I agree with you.” And that was beautiful.

I didn’t like the film. I almost didn’t post it and didn’t send it to things. The people who have been telling me how beautiful it is or how important it is are mostly [people of color] or immigrants who have very similar experiences. They haven’t seen that kind of thing told in a movie. And I’m glad I’ve been the first– hopefully the first of many– to do that for them. 

JC: What did you take away from your time at TPA?

KC: What I really took from this experience, that is probably going to stay with me my whole life, is the process of it. I learned a lot about myself and about the people around me. And that will probably stay with me forever. The culture in my high school was more geared to like “Men are supposed to be men, if you cry you’re a bitch, and girls are supposed to be girls.” And you know, it was very stereotypical.

When I was making [the first film at TPA], I happened to be the one who was asking all the questions and the person I was speaking with was significantly older than me and significantly different than me, she was a black woman raised in the deep south. And talking to her, I was just like, living closed up is just not the way. You have to open yourself up, you have to be vulnerable, so you can have deeper connections with people. Because here was this person completely opening up to me, a stranger, and in the process of that we were sharing a beautiful moment.

I just gotta say the teachers there, Stephani and Art and Chrisy over there, they are like the most influential people in my life. I think everything I’ve done has been informed by then. They’re really good. They’re really great. I f*cking love them. Just make sure to keep in connection.