We had the good fortune of connecting with Bethany Yeap and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bethany, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I think my biggest fear has always been regret, so within that context, I always saw risk as something necessary to accept in order for me to have the fullest experience possible in life. Risk, I would probably define as uncertainty- a decision with no verifiable outcome. While both risk and regret conjure fear, I much rather would take a risk and just bite the fear of failure rather than regret never doing anything. You can always bounce back from failure but you can’t live your life twice; sounds corny, but it’s true.

The choices in my life that have made the most impact on its course have been the ones that were the most uncertain. Uprooting myself, moving from the bay to new york, switching into film, and becoming a freelancer was a risky decision for me to make. I knew nothing about film, the industry knew no one in the city– I felt like a baby trying to learn to walk as an adult. Constantly taking up uncertainty has definitely built me thicker skin and pushed me to live life more actively.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a filmmaker, my narrative work is rooted in my Malaysian/Chinese-American heritage with the ultimate objective of creating and telling stories through the more expansive lens of sci-fi. My debut short film, ” Undercurrent”, a muted sci-fi drama that unravels the exploitation of a young artist as she struggles to navigate a seedy, underground art auction. premiered at LA Shorts International Film Festival and screened at Holly Shorts. I am currently in post-production for another short “are the oranges sweet ?” which follows a young single mom and her daughter on a heartfelt visit.

I feel extremely blessed and lucky to be coming up as an Asian American filmmaker at this time. There have been so many generations of work before us that really paved the way for us today so we can push our narrative forward and expand on our stories. Beyond that, I am looking forward to exploring more stories in sci-fi. I think sci-fi is such an interesting genre because it really allows you to scale back and look at humanity as a whole — serving as a sort of mirror to the audience to prompt reflection and thought.

I don’t think my journey was necessarily extraordinarily hard but it definitely was not easy. It was just necessary, I definitely had to do the typical working for free as a production assistant, etc. to gain more exposure and insight on how different sets run. FIlmmaking is also expensive, so having to balance jobs between putting together a film took a significant amount of discipline. The two challenges within the process of directing I encountered was the balance of control and collaboration, I learned a lot about what to let go of and what to keep. I learned to trust other people and trust my own intuition and feeling. I think the most important thing about directing is one, having something to say, and two, being honest. What I am learning in this stage of my career is to stay in tune with myself and keep myself open and listening to others. Before I got into directing, my conception of directing was that it was a very individual endeavor but it’s really the opposite. You really have to tell the story together with the team of people around you.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
LA has the best Korean food! I would say go to Koreatown to get BBQ and go drinking afterwards.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout to joyce keokham, my dear friend and fellow filmmaker, actor, and poet. They were the first person I’ve met who constantly put me onto projects and opportunities. Their confidence, or even just perhaps the lack of doubt they had in me, really encouraged me to continue on my path. They are constantly learning and growing, leading their life with their heart, and have been a blessing to me as a friend and cohort.

Website: www.riceclubz.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riceclubz/

Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11189999/

Image Credits
Header Photo: Taha Long Additional Photos: Taha Long ( “are the oranges sweet?” bts) , Multimedia artwork by Bethany Yeap, “are the oranges sweet?” movie poster by Samantha Shin

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