“Art can help you understand your life”: Patrick Wang on A Bread Factory and his artistic process

This spring, four critically acclaimed, stylistically original dramas by US indie filmmaker Patrick Wang will be available for the first time in UK cinemas and on demand, including In the Family, The Grief of Others, as well as A Bread Factory Part One and Part Two.

A Bread Factory – which boasts an amazing 100% rotten tomatoes rating – is based in a fictional small-town and in particular, revolves around an abandoned bread factory being used as a community arts space, which is under threat from a new complex being built by a couple of Chinese artists up the street. It has a unique tone and aesthetic and masterfully blends reality and fiction with a darkly comic thread, making for an immersive and engrossing watch.

The Upcoming had the privilege of chatting to Wang, who had a background as an economist before turning his hand to theatre directing and filmmaking, over Zoom about what he means to him for a mini-season of his work to be screening in UK cinemas, his artistic process and what his most recent films have to say about community, commerce and the arts. He also spoke about why he decided to use the two-part structure for A Bread Factory, his roots in theatre that inspired the film, its comedic tone and working with his ensemble cast which features Tyne Daly, Janeane Garofalo and Wang himself. He told us: “The thing I like about this space in a bread factory is, it’s not this sort of grand thing about art, it’s not about an artist’s career, it’s not about artistic commerce. It’s just – art has a place in your life and you, not just as a consumer, you as a person can engage with it without having to make a masterpiece. It helps you understand your life, it helps you as a human being and it’s fun. And I think we sometimes forget that”. Watch the rest of the interview below.

Sarah Bradbury

A Bread Factory and the films of Patrick Wang are released in select cinemas on 18^th February 2022 and on demand in March 2022.

Watch the trailer for The Bread Factory here: