“If you live here long enough, you just know everyone in town,” Ben Wang, a 23 year-old filmmaker and actor, said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “It was a call to arms of everyone I know.” For him, Northfield was a hub of untapped talent and stories for the making of an on-the-whim short film, “Happy New Year, Jamie Morgenstern.” It’s a collection of locals both on-and-off the camera that will make its official debut on Oct. 19 at New York Shorts International Film Festival and Oct. 20 at Twin Cities Film Festival’s “Coming of Age” Block.
Immigrating from China at 6 years old, Wang developed a passion for filmmaking by shooting fake infomercials on his grandpa’s camcorder. “I was really into infomercials as a six-year-old,” Wang said. “It’s a great English learning tool because it’s repetitive, it comes on every ad break, and they say the same thing over and over.” Growing up in Northfield, he participated in school and community plays. He later attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts, which opened many doors to the film industry.
Wang has acted in several movies and shows such as Disney’s “Chang Can Dunk” and starred in “American Born Chinese” alongside Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. He took these experiences and utilized them in the making of the short film. When asked what inspired him to make it, he said it was a spur-of-the-moment inspiration where he wrote the script-in an entire afternoon. “I was back in town, I had all of this equipment, and I was like ‘I should make a film,’ ” Wang said.
Though he didn’t know what the film would be, he knew he wanted it to be entirely Northfield related. “I thought there were a lot of interesting things to shoot in Northfield — environmentally, and also people-wise,” Wang said. He called up everyone he knew locally to build his cast and crew. From there, he wrote the script for the personalities within the cast. “That way they can be a version of themselves and you can sort of put a spotlight on these sorts of people you think were interesting in the first place,” Wang said.
The film is a “coming of age” story about a girl finding community in the most unlikely of places — a Chinese restaurant. Through the film, Wang strives to tell untold stories through quiet filmmaking. “It is [about] finding the interesting things in places you don’t expect them to be,” Wang said. “As filmmakers, we’re always looking for stories that are new. I think by nature of that, we’re going to get to tell stories about underrepresented groups.”
From building a cast through phone calls to family friends and old high school directors to utilizing local spaces such as Mandarin Garden Restaurant, the making of the film was truly a community effort on which he places emphasis. “If you’re at St. Olaf and you make movies and you want to work together, reach out. I’m always looking for people who want to help. Call to arms,” Wang said. The short film encompasses all the ideas Wang values: community, untapped stories, and real people.
“Happy New Year, Jamie Morgenstern” can be streamed for free online.
Kenzie Nguyen is a junior English major with a concentration in International Relations from Brooklyn Park, Minn.. When not in the office, Kenzie enjoys walking around town, exploring Content Bookstore, watching reality tv and movies, and chatting with her friends. She dreams about owning her own little breakfast and coffee nook. In the future, Kenzie hopes to be a news and politics reporter.