A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

On this episode of Talking Taiwan I speak with Jason Chew about being a filmmaker. We talked about how he veered away from his traditional Taiwanese upbringing and parents’ expectations that he become a lawyer.

As a filmmaker, he’s worked with several different clients in both Taiwan (a funeral home and cosmetics company) and the U.S. He shared how one project with the NYPD required him to wear a bulletproof vest while cruising around with the NYPD to the scene of a crime.

When asked I him what inspires his creativity, Jason responded by asking “where don’t you find inspiration… everything could be inspiration.”

Check out the show notes on the Talking Taiwan website for some of the great film directors that have inspired Jason and a few of the classic films about Taiwan that he recommends.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Jason’s connection to musician Treya, who we interviewed in episode 55
Jason’s “traditional Taiwanese upbringing” and what a “traditional Taiwanese upbringing” means to him
How he went from being on the path to attend law school to applying for film school
What it was like attending NYU Film School in Singapore
What Jason’s film career has been like so far
The difference between film editing, shooting, and directing
What sets someone apart as a director
What is cinematography
Jason’s short films
The music video he worked on for Treya’s song Magic
The work that Jason did on the NYPD’s Domain Awareness System (DAS) which is a sort of monitoring service
How Jason and his colleagues rode around in an NYPD police car to crime scenes in response to alerts from the Shot Spotter, which is a series of microphones that listen for shots fired
Jason’s thoughts on Black Lives Matter
Jason’s work with Taiwanese companies
Jason’s parents’ reaction to his choice to pursue a career as a filmmaker instead of law
What inspires him as a cinematographer
The crowdfunding campaigns on student films that he’s worked on
Jason’s favorite films about Taiwan
Films that he recommends for people who would like to know more about Taiwan
Jason’s work on the short film A Father’s Son – A 90s Chinatown Noir Thriller, which is based on the characters from Henry Chang’s NYPD Detective Jack Yu crime series novels
What Jason enjoys the most about filmmaking
How the pandemic has affected Jason
What Jason is currently working on
Jason’s advice for people interested in pursuing filmmaking
Jason’s advice on how to push through tough challenging times