Screentime: Stefen Chow, Photographer

"Screentime" is a regular magazine column in which we ask Beijing personalities to tell us about the films and television shows that have left an indelible impression on them.

In the biopic of your life, which scene should be filmed in slow motion?
It must be when I was 21. I had the girl, I didn’t have responsibilities as an undergraduate, pursuing dreams was the ideal, and I had the liver to try every alcohol out there. Slow-mo, all the way.

Which character from TV/film would you most like to be?
I always feel for Stewie from Family Guy. I am not really a baby with a big brain, but I guess we are close.

What TV show or movie did you once love but now think is rubbish?
Vertical Limit. It was a film about mountaineering in 2000. When I first watched it, I was literally like, “wow.” Mountaineering is more exciting than Mission Impossible. I then started climbing mountains and I realized the only thing real about the movie was that too many mountaineers behave like heroes. Oh, and Free Willy. And Jaws.

What TV show or movie did you have to be coerced into watching but now readily admit that you love?
Modern Family. I was introduced to it by my wife who went absolutely bonkers for it, and I was lukewarm to it at first. Now it is a must-watch every time I get on a plane.

What’s your favorite film musical?
Chicago! I think it was the first musical film that was just more powerful because of the elaborate sets, big stars and singing. I must have watched it at least twice, and also watched the Broadway version in New York.

What movie are you sick of people saying to you: “What?! You haven’t seen it?”
Wow...too many. Especially with China’s rules limiting foreign films each year, I will go back home and miss all the great, slightly indie movies. I watched Avatar during opening day in Beijing -- six months after it opened worldwide, and they opened the scene speaking Chinese. And the rest of the three hours. The Navi too. I was scarred for life.

What is the slowest paced movie you still enjoyed?
I really enjoyed The Artist, the 2011 French black and white silent film that won quite a few Oscars. I always enjoy it when there is a combination of aesthetics and storyline that is extremely compelling. I didn’t grow up during the black and white silent film era so I guess this invoked the hippy side of me.

What was the first movie that you saw with a date?
Was it Titanic? I think I cried. I lost that date.

What movie first made you say: “Wow, how did they do that?”
Lord of the Rings. The first one. I was in New Zealand in 2000 and I was training to be a mountaineer, and my instructors who told me they worked on the LOTR set and they said the characters who walked through the misty mountains was where we were training in the mountains near Mount Cook. I remembered the terrain to be really rough. How did they do it with all those raggy clothes and act on a real mountain?!

Who is the best cartoon dog?
Dogbert from Dilbert! He is a badass. Corporate evils in the form of cutesy dogs rock the world.

Catch Stefen Chow’s ongoing photo essay The Poverty Line at www.thepovertyline.net.