Domee Shi on how Toronto's diversity inspired "Turning Red"

"Turning Red" director Domee Shi on Toronto's diversity, Honest Ed's, and geese poop

Domee Shi, Disney Pixar’s first Chinese Canadian woman to direct an animated feature film — Turning Red — began her journey as a Toronto teenager armed with a stylus, tablet, and a welcoming online art community.

Shi was just a 14-year-old in the city, who found her passion for animation through DeviantArt, an online platform that allows creatives to share artwork, photography, and videography.

“I remember being 14, saving up all of my money to buy a tablet, buying like a janky version of Photoshop, learning how to draw Draco Malfoy in Photoshop, and posting it to DeviantArt. That was the very first thing I ever posted online,” Shi told Daily Hive.

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DeviantArt gave her access to artists of all ages and experiences online, who provided constructive criticism, advice, and tips. She thrived in the community, drawing fan art and participating in art exchanges.

Through DeviantArt, Shi began following certain artists who attended Sheridan College, a polytechnic school with campuses in the Greater Toronto Area known for its visual arts and design programs.

“I was in high school, and I was trying to figure out where I wanted to go for college, and they gave me the idea to apply to animation school at Sheridan,” explained Shi.

The filmmaker has had many firsts since. Shi was the first woman to direct a Pixar short with 2018’s Bao, and the first woman of colour to win the Academy Award for the best animated short film. Now, she brings Turning Red and the Chinese Canadian experience to the big screen, becoming the first female solo director of a Pixar film in the studio’s history.

We chit-chatted with the Oscar-winning filmmaker about how Toronto inspired the film, her fave hangouts in the city, and what unique Canadian experience would turn her into a giant red panda.

Why did you want to unpack the mother-daughter relationship focussing on the Chinese-Canadian experience?

I really feel like it’s such a complex and deep relationship that deserves a movie and a story to be made about it. Those relationships with our moms are so important. It’s one of the first relationships that we form when we are born. And it’s such a turning point when the most important relationship in our life shifts from our mom, or from our parents, to our friends. There’s a lot of drama there; there’s a lot of conflict and heartache.

When that was happening to me, I didn’t know what was going on. So I think making this movie is kind of my attempt to revisit that time in my life and understand what was happening, not just from my point of view but also from my mom’s point of view.

Toronto is almost like its own character in this movie — what about the city is so inspiring, and how did you want to portray it in animation?

I’m so inspired by how diverse Toronto is. From Chinatown, to Kensington Market, to the Greater Toronto Area, I feel lucky that I grew up in this city, and I never felt othered in the way of being Chinese.

I was so lucky to have friends who were diverse, who looked like me, [or] who didn’t look like me but had immigrant parents. I really just wanted to celebrate that on the big screen because you don’t see that very often, and you don’t see Toronto depicted very often in movies.

How has Toronto’s Chinese Canadian community reacted to the film so far?

The two most important people in the Chinese Canadian community I want to impress are my parents, and they’re going to see it tomorrow. Hopefully, they [will] like it.

(Update: They did, indeed, like it! Shi posted photos on Instagram of her parents brimming with pride at the premiere on Tuesday.)

@domeeshi/Instagram

What are your favourite Toronto/Canada easter eggs in the movie?

I love that we give a shoutout to Daisy Mart. I love that in the Daisy Mart, the sets team made sure to include details like beef patties and bags of milk.

We were able to have a slow-mo shot of loonies and toonies falling from the sky in a part of the movie. The streetcar that Mei takes is modelled specifically after a year 2000 model of the TTC streetcar, with the gross seats and weird floor.

There’s Tim Hortons, there’s maple leaf flags wherever we can put it, there’s mentioning of a toque, there’s a blue jay, the Skydome gets featured pretty heavily. I could go on.

What early 2000s Toronto landmark, restaurant, or hangout that might not exist anymore do you miss most?

Honest Ed’s! I was just talking about this with somebody. I miss it.

I think that’s where my parents bought their wedding band. When they first immigrated to Canada, they didn’t have wedding rings because they’re from China, and it wasn’t that popular at the time. My dad, my mom, and I went to Honest Ed’s, and they got like a wedding band.

And now it’s gone! Just condos now.

When you were a teenager, where would you go to get away from things in Toronto?

My dad would drop me off at Pacific Mall in Markham. I could spend hours there, back in the day, because there’s just so much to do. You can buy DVDs, you can buy the latest video games from Japan, have your consoles unlocked, get Hong Kong snacks, or go to the arcade and do DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). It was so fun. I love that place.

What are your favourite restaurants in Toronto?

I went there just in December for Christmas, but there’s this Chinese seafood restaurant called Rol Jui Seafood Restaurant. It’s, like, super in the heart of Chinatown.

My mom, my dad and me have gotten there since I was, like, six years old. It looks exactly the same. It’s a classic Chinese restaurant, and we’d always order lobster because they prepare it so well. It’s Cantonese-style, where it’s fried, and it’s really, really good. And the prices are still pretty decent.

What Canadian icon or experience would trigger you to turn into a red panda?

Stepping in Canadian geese poop. Which I felt like I did all the time when I was walking around in a park. It’s just everywhere. That just drove me crazy.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. It was conducted a day before the film’s premiere in Toronto.