Pixar rep visits Marysville for Bomb Day

Mar. 2—Last weekend's Bok Kai Festival was met with an explosion of events including three free screenings of the 2022 Pixar film "Turning Red."

The animated movie is a coming-of-age tale based in part on the life experience of director Domee Shi, a Chinese-born Canadian animator. The story follows 13-year-old Mei Lee as she struggles to balance her family's expectations with her own emerging identity. Based in Toronto, Canada, "Turning Red" acknowledges Chinese culture, puberty, and femininity within North America and abroad.

So how does this relate to the Yuba-Sutter area?

Well, just a couple years ago Pixar representatives came to Marysville to tour the Bok Kai Temple as preliminary research for the film. The temple ended up being used as one of the primary models for renderings in the movie and its name is clearly listed in the end credits. This discovery came with great excitement to the community and made headlines across multiple local news sources last fall.

Jon Lim, president of the Marysville Chinese Community, was responsible for signing the Pixar contracts and said he and other organizers, such as Anna Eng with the Chineses American Pilgrimage Committee, went through quite the process to secure early public screening rights in honor of Bok Kai. These screenings were held at the Buddhist Church of Marysville in Marysville last weekend with a special Sunday showing hosting the movie's production designer, Rona Liu.

"I think it was very successful and I'm so happy to see so many people turn out for the event," said Eng.

Community members braved the wind and rain on Sunday for a chance to pick Liu's brain during a 30-minute question-and-answer session. After the film ended, Liu introduced herself and revealed some of the thought processes and her personal experience throughout the creation of the film.

"When we went to the Bok Kai Temple, we were so inspired by the community part of it," said Liu. "We loved the little details, like there's leftover oil bottles that you repurpose and there's cleaning supplies and a mop that is kinda nicely hidden, and all those things just made it feel like it's a place for community."

Of course, the audience wanted to know why the crew had chosen a red panda as its primary character. According to Liu, one of the reasons was the animal's Chinese heritage and its cute looks.

"The red panda is not overly featured in the media," explained Liu. "During our research, some zoo keepers talked to us about how they are very awkward and reclusive. They come out at night and even though they feed on bamboo, it's not very nutritious for them. ... So we thought, well you know they're awake at night, they're awkward, they're reclusive, they eat junk food, that kinda sounds like a teenager to us, so we felt like that was the perfect pairing."

As the laughter died down, Liu went into how she got started working with director Shi during the short film "Boa" and how they shared the same creative language. Liu actually applied to Pixar on a whim during a bout of unemployment, expecting to get turned down, but it was that shot in the dark that ended up blasting off her career.

"Don't ever be afraid of not having a job because it could lead to a great one," said Liu. "It's really about aligning yourself with people with the same interests as you."

"Turning Red" features the fictional boy band 4*Town which is based on the 2000 pop-group O-Town. Creators found humor in this parallel and, given the unlucky nature of the number four in Chinese culture, decided the title would be quite fitting. Surprisingly, four is the luckiest number when it comes to the rings tha get fired off on Bomb Day as part of the traditional Bok Kai weekend.

"The reason why four is the lucky ring here is in those days it meant that good luck, good chi, and good fortune came from all four directions," said David Lei, a board member of the Chinese American Pioneer Heritage Committee and the cultural consultant responsible for bringing the Pixar team to the Bok Kai Temple. "That's why Bomb Day is done in the middle of this intersection at 1st and C. The good luck will come from all four directions."

Just as Lim finished his explanation, test bombs could be heard firing down the street.

Liu then spoke on her experience working on Pixar's first all-female production team. She said she felt the communication was easier, especially when she became pregnant later in the process. Speaking of working with women, Liu was asked how the topic of menstruation became a prominent feature in the film.

"We kept calling it a 'period piece,'" joked Liu. "I think it was just very natural and I think in some ways Pixar has been really encouraging a new wave of younger directors to kinda talk about their stories. I think for us it's a territory that nobody has ever approached, but it's like we go through it month to month, how come no one ever talks about it?"

As 4 p.m. rolled around, the session was wrapped up and the audience began heading down the street to observe the annual Bomb Day antics, including Liu. This was only Liu's second trip to Marysville, the first being with the initial Pixar tour of the Bok Kai Temple. Liu was given the opportunity to light one of the bombs in the circle and said she enjoyed being able to witness and participate in this historic festival.

Since its release, "Turning Red" has been nominated for nearly 50 prominent film awards including the Golden Globe, Grammy's, and even MTV. Several more nominations are still pending with the most prestigious being from the Academy Awards under the category of "Best Animated Feature Film" which will be announced on March 12. Shi is the first woman with sole director's credit on a Pixar feature film and if "Turning Red" wins the Oscar, she will become the first female director to win in that category on her own.

The entire question-and-answer session with Liu during Bok Kai weekend has been uploaded to YouTube by Jeremy Martin and can be accessed at youtu.be/cRBSG0iS6Ic.