Discoing the beauty, the power, Martial Art, and mysticism of Ba Gua Zhang through the journey of New York Internal Martial Arts Club.
Watching the documentary film on Vimeo.
Watching the documentary film on Vimeo.
Executive producer . writer
Frank Allen is a life long Chinese Martial Arts practitioner and Master teacher of the arts, who specializes in Ba Gua Zhang. He is the founder and Director of Wu Tang PCA - One of the oldest martial arts schools in the U.S. Accomplished writer of martial arts books and articles. |
Director . Cinematographer . Writer Tina C Zhang is a native Chinese and long time Chinese Martial Arts practitioner. The director, writer, cinematographer, and editor of the feature documentary film "Tai Chi Club" |
We have the same passion for Ba Gua Zhang. We connect with like-minded practitioners.
We are not in the crowd, but proudly stand out.We build a healthy and strong community,
Our hearts will speak to the beautiful world. Our film will present the underrepresented art.
We are not in the crowd, but proudly stand out.We build a healthy and strong community,
Our hearts will speak to the beautiful world. Our film will present the underrepresented art.
Q & A session of "Whirling Circles" May 22, 2002
Q: Congratulations for your well done documentary!
A: Thank you! I love to film the real life stories without any filters to capture interesting, unique, and rich soul.
Q: Do you have structure to make the documentary?
A: Yes. There are chapters.
Q: How and when do you write script?
A: Many times, ideas were born when I ride on subways. (Yea, a New Yorker), I think where we live, our city can be our greatest strength, the things we wrote are different, and have a distinct voice. Also, in these early mornings when I had very quiet moments. Or, in very special times, like right after our first gathering and filming in the East River Park in Oct. 2020, there were a lot of thoughts and feelings coming out of my mind after months and months without having a real human’s touch…
Q: How do you film this Documentary?
A: What I did was to follow my own instinct to write and record the practice of Ba Gua Zhang. None of the participants are professional actors, but they devoted themselves to Ba Gua Zhang - the art they know very well. When I filmed them, I completely trusted them with their deep, profound knowledge of their art. What they do wasn't telling another person’s story, they were naturally telling their own stories, and the story connect to my own life, too.
Q: Who compose the music, sound really great in the film?
A: I cannot afford music composer for the film. All music is from YouTube Audio Library. I just choose what I need for the film. By the way, I never own lighting equipments for filming neither. All shootings were done under the sun-light or nature light from the window. I believed that’s the best way to presents the deep correlation of the human heart and nature, which also represents the name of the Ba Gua, Eight Trigrams. They are: Heaven, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Fire, Water, Mountain, and Lake. Hope the viewers can appreciate the beauty that nature has to offer.
Q: It’s a beautiful film, I really appreciate the beauty of it.
A: Speaking of “Beautiful”. In this documentary film, shows the beauty of human soul, beauty of the body motions, martial applications in practice. These are extremely beautiful to me through practitioner’s purity of presentation.
Q: How long does it take to finish the documentary?
A: Two and a half years. Some failures, some changing mind, and rewritings. Anyhow, I just keep putting together the puzzles until a picture is complete.
I’m grateful for Terri Ferrari who contributed his videos of Wu Tang PCA’s activities in the 80’s, 90’s, and 20’s. Without these historical footages, the past would be completely lost.
I so much appreciate the film narrator Daniel Kreizberg for his professional work nicely done, I really love his unique voice and passion of telling the stories! I’m so lucky to meet you, Daniel, in our Tai Chi class, and it’s true that, sometimes, luck is all I need!
A huge thank you to Frank Allen for all educational talks in the film, that make this documentary attractive to those curious minded and valuable to future generations of Ba Gua Zhang practitioners.
A very special thank-you to all participants who made this documentary possible. Your passion and actions will be remembered for many years to come!
A: Thank you! I love to film the real life stories without any filters to capture interesting, unique, and rich soul.
Q: Do you have structure to make the documentary?
A: Yes. There are chapters.
Q: How and when do you write script?
A: Many times, ideas were born when I ride on subways. (Yea, a New Yorker), I think where we live, our city can be our greatest strength, the things we wrote are different, and have a distinct voice. Also, in these early mornings when I had very quiet moments. Or, in very special times, like right after our first gathering and filming in the East River Park in Oct. 2020, there were a lot of thoughts and feelings coming out of my mind after months and months without having a real human’s touch…
Q: How do you film this Documentary?
A: What I did was to follow my own instinct to write and record the practice of Ba Gua Zhang. None of the participants are professional actors, but they devoted themselves to Ba Gua Zhang - the art they know very well. When I filmed them, I completely trusted them with their deep, profound knowledge of their art. What they do wasn't telling another person’s story, they were naturally telling their own stories, and the story connect to my own life, too.
Q: Who compose the music, sound really great in the film?
A: I cannot afford music composer for the film. All music is from YouTube Audio Library. I just choose what I need for the film. By the way, I never own lighting equipments for filming neither. All shootings were done under the sun-light or nature light from the window. I believed that’s the best way to presents the deep correlation of the human heart and nature, which also represents the name of the Ba Gua, Eight Trigrams. They are: Heaven, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Fire, Water, Mountain, and Lake. Hope the viewers can appreciate the beauty that nature has to offer.
Q: It’s a beautiful film, I really appreciate the beauty of it.
A: Speaking of “Beautiful”. In this documentary film, shows the beauty of human soul, beauty of the body motions, martial applications in practice. These are extremely beautiful to me through practitioner’s purity of presentation.
Q: How long does it take to finish the documentary?
A: Two and a half years. Some failures, some changing mind, and rewritings. Anyhow, I just keep putting together the puzzles until a picture is complete.
I’m grateful for Terri Ferrari who contributed his videos of Wu Tang PCA’s activities in the 80’s, 90’s, and 20’s. Without these historical footages, the past would be completely lost.
I so much appreciate the film narrator Daniel Kreizberg for his professional work nicely done, I really love his unique voice and passion of telling the stories! I’m so lucky to meet you, Daniel, in our Tai Chi class, and it’s true that, sometimes, luck is all I need!
A huge thank you to Frank Allen for all educational talks in the film, that make this documentary attractive to those curious minded and valuable to future generations of Ba Gua Zhang practitioners.
A very special thank-you to all participants who made this documentary possible. Your passion and actions will be remembered for many years to come!