ISFFH Q & A with Director Justin S. Lee
Justin S. Lee won Best Sci-Fi for his film “Iris” in the 2012 International Student Film Festival Hollywood (ISFFH) and we had the opportunity to have a Q & A interview with him recently and learn some more about him and where he got the inspiration for his film.
ISFFH: Tell me about yourself and what drives your creativity.
Justin S. Lee: I’m a Chinese-American filmmaker currently based in Los Angeles, California. Born in 1988 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I began my storytelling endeavors at the age of seven, when I moved to Taipei, Taiwan. For seven years in this new, foreign city, I experimented with several forms of creative writing in search for an expressive outlet. Eventually, after moving to Los Angeles for high school and briefly pursuing journalism, I shot my first project, a documentary for a class assignment, and immediately fell in love with film. It was the medium I had been searching for all of my life. At UC Berkeley, I pursued narrative filmmaking while receiving a bachelor’s degree from the university’s Haas School of Business. When I was 21, my student film “Blank” won several Best Drama awards, placed Top 16 internationally, and was featured at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner, in-flight on Virgin America, on-demand on AT&T U-Verse, and in various other theaters and television stations. After college, I worked on the feature film “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1” as an assistant in casting, production, and post-production, and interned in development for various production companies. A year later, I then enrolled in the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ graduate film and television production program, where I wrote and directed “Iris” and am currently pursuing my master’s degree.
ISFFH: Where do you find inspiration?
Justin S. Lee: I first try to find inspiration through my own life experiences and observations. I also look for any stories I read about in the news that capture my interest or get my creative juices flowing. And lastly, any form of storytelling, whether it’s a movie, a TV show, or a piece of literature, can be incredibly inspiring to me as well.
ISFFH: Who are your mentors?
Justin S. Lee: My older brother, Jeff, and my father, Henry, are definitely mentors of mine. Although they work in completely different industries, they’ve always given me wise advice about my career and about my life in general. There are also several individuals from the industry and from film school who have guided me along the way.
ISFFH: Tell me about your film and where you got the idea for it.
Justin S. Lee: “Iris” is a science fiction short film that I wrote and directed during my first year at USC’s graduate program. It takes place in the near future, when status has become more important than ever before, and the story is about a woman with a fake identity who must decide how far she’s willing to go to move up the social ladder. It started out as a germ of an idea. All I had envisioned was the opening scene, which takes place in an upscale bar filled with people wearing high-tech identification rings. When prompted, the rings reveal Facebook-like profiles, displaying their background, education, and employment information to be immediately judged upon by others. It’s essentially a futuristic dating scenario that I think we’re heading towards due to the increasing popularity of social media websites like Facebook and the increasing technology in gadgets such as smart phones. This opening scene stayed in the back of my mind for years and when I wanted to explore the potential world and its themes further, I developed the idea into a short film through one of my writing classes at USC.
ISFFH: Who is the audience you wrote the film for?
Justin S. Lee: I don’t really write for specific audiences, so the film is for everyone. Perhaps not children due to the nature of some of its content, but other than that, I think everybody else can understand the film and potentially be influenced by its themes.
ISFFH: What message do you want people to take away after seeing your film?
Justin S. Lee: I want people who see “Iris” to be aware of how technology and social media websites like Facebook and LinkedIn are changing the ways we interact and view each other. Although there are many benefits to them, such as the convenience of communicating information quickly and efficiently, people also can severely abuse its features. So much value is put on status and “titles” now that we want to portray the best versions of ourselves on our “profiles.” But how far should we go? At what point does that portrayal of our identity become inaccurate or artificial? Are we being too exhibitionist? Back in high school, for instance, during the time when the social media blog Xanga was popular, I remember finding out that a random girl at another school downloaded pictures off of my friends’ blogs and posted these photos on her own Xanga. She was pretending that they were her friends and was hanging out with them in these pictures, when, in realty, they were complete strangers and had never met. It was such a disturbing discovery and echoes what is portrayed in “Catfish” and possibly in this recent Manti Te’o incident. In “Iris,” I take this scenario to the extreme, where the main character ultimately destroys herself to get the status that she desperately covets. Like in real life, in my opinion, such acts tragically amount to nothing.
ISFFH: What do you consider the elements of a good film?
Justin S. Lee: Any film that leaves a lasting impression on me is a good film. If I think about it all night after watching it, it’s a good movie. If I think about it for the next month, it’s a great movie. The best films are the movies I think about for the rest of my life. Those films truly impact and influence people.
ISFFH: What advice do you have for fellow student filmmakers?
Justin S. Lee: Three things.
1) In today’s world, there are absolutely no excuses not to make a film. Learn how to be resourceful, especially on the Internet, where there are tons of forums, tutorials, eBooks, access to software, and job opportunities to help you pursue your dream. Everything is at your disposal. You can even shoot a movie on your phone, and if you think that sounds ridiculous, Park Chan-wook, the director of “Oldboy,” did just that a few years ago.
2) Build your confidence. In my opinion, this is exactly what festivals like the International Student Film Festival Hollywood are for. They offer to us the amazing, life-changing gift of confidence. When you make films and submit them to contests and festivals, it’s like a rite of passage when it finally gets accepted somewhere. It proves to you that a group of individuals liked your film and wants to screen it to the public. That kind of encouragement is extremely powerful and motivating.
3) This may seem random, but Will Smith, whom I have never met, has been a constant source of motivation for me. Anyone reading this should go on YouTube, search for “Will Smith interviews,” and watch all of them. His advice about hard work and achieving success is truly inspiring. It’s very similar to Malcolm Gladwell’s statements about logging in 10,000 hours of work in your field in order to be successful. I don’t believe in natural-born talent. It’s all about hard work.
ISFFH: What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Justin S. Lee: My goal is to be able to support myself doing what I love, which is writing and directing. In 10 years, I see myself making a feature film and perhaps trying to put together a production company with my friends.
ISFFH: How can people follow your work?
Justin S. Lee: Website – www.jleefilms.com, Youtube – www.youtube.com/justinslee, Facebook – www.facebook.com/IrisTheMovie, and IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm3956121/
ISFFH: Any final words you want to share?
Justin S. Lee: I want to thank the International Student Film Festival Hollywood for putting together such a great event. You give us student filmmakers the essential gift of confidence, which can truly change the course of our careers. I’d also like to give my sincere thanks to my cast and crew, particularly Hannah Phenicie, who produced and edited the film, and Amy Reedy, who did the cinematography and production design. We were randomly grouped together into a trio at USC and created three amazing projects, including “Iris,” and I’m proud to have been a part of each one of them.
Hollywood is the capital city of the entertainment world. The International Student Film Festival Hollywood is the only film festival that embraces all ages from around the world, offering students the unique opportunity to gain the recognition of film industry leaders creating career development opportunities in their home countries as well as the United States. The opportunities provided by the ISFFH not only benefit the students, but the world community by bringing together people of diverse cultures and differing viewpoints.
The International Student Film Festival Hollywood is now accepting submissions for its 11th annual Film and Video Competition. The Festival will be held in the NoHo Arts District of North Hollywood, CA USA October 26 – 27, 2013. The competition is open to students of all ages and academic backgrounds. Submission deadline is August 15, 2013. More information and entry forms are available on the festival website www.isffhollywood.org. You can also find us on facebook www.facebook.com/ISFFHollywood.