Meet Phoebe Fu | Director&Editor

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

Hi Phoebe, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The reason why I start my own post-prouduction studio is that I want to make post-production affordable for independent filmmakers. As an independent filmmaker in NY years ago, I know how hard it is to make movies without financial supports and platforms. Great concepts&ideas are killed by lack of money. Founding my own studio, I will be looking for hidden gems–the lesser-known stories of history. As of nowadays technology started to take over, I still believe art essentially is about human beings. And it’s our responsibility to speak up for the marginalized, unveil the forgotten truth, and improve the world we’re living in.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The desire to understand people and to be understood makes me a storyteller. I was once silent. I locked my thoughts deep down inside me because I had a question not yet answered — can people truly understand each other? Every time I see people laughing at others’ pain, I feel alone. If understanding each other is impossible, then what’s the point of expressing myself? So I became quiet. Actually, I enjoyed staying quiet because it allowed me to be a better listener and observer. I always love listening to my friends’ stories and observing them—like what’re they thinking; what’re the motives behind their actions; and what’re their personalities, etc—which has been a natural habit of mine since I was little. I did enjoy being a mind reader and my friends’ secret keeper. However, there was a moment in my life when I could no longer repress my strong desire to express myself honestly and fearlessly, to be understood deeply, and to feel not so lonely. Even though openness may bring vulnerability and expressing myself risks being misunderstood, I want to speak. And I want to tell people that someone has been through what they’re experiencing and they’re understood. That’s why I decided to be a storyteller.

My dad is my first storyteller teacher. Every day when I returned home from elementary school, I slipped into bed and waited for my dad to tell me a thriller film. Listening to, rather than watching, movies was a unique experience. Years later, when I see those films myself, I find they’re actually quite different from the ones that I once pictured in my mind. Listening to a film magically opens space for me to visualize stories and re-edit the films in my mind. And my dad’s love towards thriller/suspense stories has greatly influenced on my taste in movies. During my three years in the Tisch School of Arts, I furthered my research in the editing of psychological thriller/mystery films. And I developed an interest in women’s psychology and wrote & directed several shorts that focus on women. After graduating from Tisch, I dedicated most of my time on feminist & queer films.

In addition to writing & directing, I also find myself becoming increasingly interested in editing. For me editing, the same as directing & scriptwriting, is at its core about storytelling. I’m the kind of editor who will sit in front of a computer thinking about whether or not to keep this 5-second footage for half a day. The happiness editing brings to me — sitting in a lab without anyone disturbing you, being fully absorbed in thinking and creating, and experimenting and exploring possibilities of a cut— is something incomparable and the reason why I want to pursue the area. So after I graduated from NYU, I applied and got into the editing department of AFI, which marks the official start of my editing career.

It‘s never easy to be a filmmaker. Financially, it’s always been tough to fundraise for your project and sometimes you have to change your ideas due to the limit of money. The pandemic indeed adds to the difficulties of filming but at the same time, gives rise to some innovations. The remote editing mode started to be prevalent in the industry due to pandemics which increased efficiency. Another struggle I have always been through is how to keep being creative and inspired.

I’m naturally drawn to stories that focus on minorities or reveal the rare side of history. I grew up often feeling a lack of sense of belonging until I got into Tisch, where I met a group of weird kids like me. My unconventional way of thinking shows up at a very young age. The more I’m told what’s right and wrong, the more I become skeptical and rebellious. I’ve always been this outlier. My imagination is one other thing that sets me apart from others. Maybe because I haven’t felt a sense of belonging since I was a kid, I always try to escape from the cold world by hiding into my imaginary world. Rebellious and Imaginary are the two that can best describe my personality.

Sensibility, great taste on music, and a great sense of pacing are the feedback that I often get from audiences. As my AFI professor, Martin Nicolson says in the evaluation, “Great taste and refined sensibility are two of the hallmarks of Phoebe Fu’s Cutting”. I cut three shorts during my first year in AFI. Among the three, the experience of editing The Other Actress is the one that I can’t forget. THE OTHER ACTRESS tells the compelling story of fading alcoholic movie star Mercedes McCambridge, summoned by William Fried’s kin to read for the voice of Regan in THE EXORCIST. In the end, The Exorcist becomes a mark in film history while the actress is almost forgotten. The short successfully reveals the heartbreaking and dark side of Hollywood’s 1970s through Mercedes’s experiences. In editing, my director and I did research on 1970s movies and employed a period way of editing. Together with the visuals, we created a believable 1970 world and made the character and her experiences relatable to audiences nowadays and thus revive beyond time. As my professor Martin evaluates the movie, “An intriguing world for the audience to visit, Phoebe handles every aspect of the editing with confidence and taste. The assured tone Phoebe maintains helps us feel we are in an earlier era of Hollywood and trust the performances of our actors playing icons of the past.”

In the future, I will keep looking for hidden gems like these–the lesser-known stories of history. As of nowadays technology started to take over, I still believe art essentially is about human beings. And it’s our responsibility to speak up for the marginalized, unveil the forgotten truth, and improve the world we’re living in.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I will take my friends to AFI where’s full of weird talents. And then we go to Griffith Park for the skyline view.
I will take them to magnolia blvd located in Burbank. As my friends are mostly vintage lovers like me, we can spend whole day exploring the vintage stores on this street. Playclothes is probably the most famous one where artists and filmmakers go for inspirations.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to take this opportunity to shoutout to my dad. He is truly the one who opens the gate of filmmaking for me. Every day when I returned home from elementary school, I slipped into bed and waited for my dad to tell me a thriller film. Listening to, rather than watching, movies was a unique experience. Years later, when I see those films myself, I find they’re actually quite different from the ones that I once pictured in my mind. Listening to a film magically opens space for me to visualize stories and re-edit the films in my mind. And my dad’s love towards thriller/suspense stories has greatly influenced on my taste in movies.

Instagram: yufei.fu

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY4UcqHFhMwdABq5zBOYuBw/

Image Credits
Qiqi Deng