Huei Lin

Which skill, that you’ve learned by working with musicians, helps you in everyday life?

I actually used to be a musician myself (saxophone and piano), so I feel that I can communicate with musicians in their own language. As a filmmaker, I have different priorities than they do and I need to respect the sanctity of small details that don’t seem that important to me but which make all the difference to the musicians. There is something exceptionally rigorous and disciplined about musicians; I try to bring that same rigor to everything I do in my life.

When do you need music the most?

In the evenings, or after hours, when I‚m writing something. These days I listen to a lot of shoe gaze and bands like Cigarettes After Sex, and solo acts like the saxophonist Colin Stetson. I also listen to music when I‘m out in the field, filming city scenes for documentaries. It helps me create the inner world for whatever project I’m working on. When I feel lost in memories of my adolescence, I listen to Maroon 5 or The Strokes.

If anything was possible, where would you like to have a showing?

In an adult film theater. If that doesn’t work out, a screening at Cannes would be just fine.