Filmmakers
Home » Magazine » Good, issue 7 » FilmmakersCan an office romance change the world? It can if you’re Dean Easterbrook and Qiujing Wong, a couple whose documentaries find solutions among the world’s problems.
“The idea of creating change through films came out of working in the commercial, corporate world, where it was all about the money,” says Dean. He and Qiujing (better known as Q) met six years ago, as colleagues at an Auckland television and commercial production company. An item within six weeks, they left 14 months later to launch Borderless Productions.
A Grandmother’s Tribe, their first film, was made with two goals in mind: raising the profile of African women caring for grandchildren orphaned by HIV/Aids, and raising funds for these grandmother groups. Almost $150,000 has been donated so far.
Q and Dean have three requirements for making a documentary. The theme must be universal; the subject important and urgent; and there must be a solution. “If we can’t provide all three then we don’t feel like it’s worth doing,” says Q. “I feel our job is to go out into the world and find stories that break down borders—religious, cultural and national.
“The ultimate goal is perfect peace—and our own studio!”
Borderless is completely independent; Dean and Q control all rights to their films, and all productions are self-funded. A Grandmother’s Tribe, released in 2007, was produced with investment from 100 or so sponsors, who contributed anything from $20 to $15,000.
Their next feature doco, On My Own Two Feet, will show how microfinance is lifting Indian families out of poverty. Partly financed through ‘social funding’, investors’ micro-loans will eventually be paid back and reinvested in a microfinance community. It’s not an easy business model, but the couple believes it will have long-term benefits, both to them and society.
Dean and Q have just returned from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where they’ve been making a short film for World Vision’s microenterprise programme, VisionFund. “We’re trying to encourage closing the gap between rich and poor through microfinance,” says Q.
A background in commerce and marketing has Q in the role of producer; Dean’s production and post-production skills sit him in the director’s chair. “We’re really different people,” says Q, “opposite almost, but our values are totally aligned. That’s what holds us together.” What they share is an entrepreneurial flair, a dogged work ethic and a passion for making a difference.
Spending weeks on location, they get to know their subjects well. “You fall in love with these people,” says Q. “You kind of become like family.” Dean and Q are soon to become family themselves, due to marry in January 2010 after getting engaged in Nairobi, Kenya, where they returned for the premiere of A Grandmother’s Tribe. “I suppose that symbolises how important these projects are for us,” says Dean.“We have to get married over them!” laughs Q.
