Chris Smith's documentary "has a very special place" in Chai's heart. She describes subject Mark Borchardt as "the quintessential filmmaker, the person driven by such mania and crazy, crazy conviction."
Chai immediately put Ang Lee's masterpiece on her list. Featuring one of the most epic fights, "it is just one of those amazing things where you see two women at the height of their powers going at it, and no man could ever one-up them."
"You get the sense of the end of a colonial power that's very deep and very strong," she says. "LE JOLI MAI is a really interesting examination of how you come to terms with a violent past."
Ross McElwee's SHERMAN'S MARCH had a profound impact on Chai, who recommends the film as a must-see. "It was just one of those movies that when you see it, you can't really believe it's happening, and then you love every single frame."
One of Chai's mentors, the prolific documentary director Steve James, made this film, which she calls "one of the most human, compassionate, honest documentaries I've ever seen."
Chai found connection to the story through her family's experience of being displaced by war, and describes how the film's use of theater and musical performance "broke the genre" of documentary.
This eighties cult classic was a summer-camp favorite of Chai's. Amazed by the pirate ship and crazy adventure, she also appreciated the film's representation of young Asians onscreen.
"I would highly recommend it as a date movie," Chai says of Bong Joon Ho's early film. Not only will it boost your credentials as a film connoisseur, she promises, but "its scary scenes will get your date to hold you tight."
Chai Vasarhelyi relates her formative encounters with cinema, from accompanying her father to the theater as a child to her early documentary career, including her first films, A NORMAL LIFE and TOUBA.
