Q&A with Filmmaker Ben See-Tho

Sep 29

Ben See-Tho is a Filipino-Cantonese-German director from the Bay Area who earned his BFA in Film & TV from NYU Tisch. His work has been featured by GRAMMY U and Asian Cinevision, and he is the founder of ORANGEJUUZ, a boutique production company. With a background in dance and music, Ben infuses playfulness and unconventionality into his filmmaking. The short film Delicates he co-directed with Kyle Petersen will be screening at the Bushwick Film Festival this year.

This Q&A is part of the Bushwick Film Fest Filmmaker Q&A series

What was your favorite part of making your film? Memories from the process?

Shooting the dance scene was such a joy. Neither Kelly or Henry (our leads) had much dance experience prior; to see them nail that scene not only as actors, but as burgeoning dancers was so gratifying. There was an electricity on set– every single crew member was glued to the monitor, rooting for them. It was epic.

What was a big challenge you faced while making this film?

Our two main characters spend most of the story physically separated, which led to our dialogue scenes playing out more like phone calls than traditional conversations. In practice, this meant Kelly or Henry were often acting without a direct counterpart, with the other side of the conversation being read off camera. One particular scene actually consisted of the two characters’ coverage shot months apart! We had to schedule it that way to catch the changing of the seasons– we wanted the audience to feel the passage of time. Making sure the performances felt cohesive despite that was a holistic challenge, we couldn’t have done it without combined efforts from both our actors, directors, and editor.

Tell us an anecdote about casting or working with your actors.

Kyle (my co-director and writer) and Henry (who plays Colin) have been some of my closest friends and collaborators for more than a decade now. We were forged in the same high school theater, and at this point for us, creatively synergizing is second nature. So when it came to casting Megan, we needed to find someone who was not just compatible with our style but more importantly injected us with fresh energy. When Kelly came to the first screen test, there was an instant feeling that she raised the bar for all of us, while also somehow feeling an old friend, fitting into the dynamic perfectly. When she left the room, we didn’t even need to say anything, we just nodded to each other and wordlessly agreed.

Were there any films or directors that influenced your approach to this project?

Kyle and I both have a deep affinity for music and the way it intersects with story. My directorial work outside of Delicates primarily consists of music videos, so when we were developing the short, we used temp music as a guiding light in an Edgar Wright-y kind of way. There was a particularly formative playlist of temp music that shaped the film from the writing stage all the way through editing, and somehow most of the instrumental tracks on that playlist were from the Wall-E soundtrack. We both ended up rewatching it around this time, and something about the big-hearted yet fragile relationship at its core and the oblique magical feelings of the score really rubbed off on us.

What inspired you to pursue a career in filmmaking?

My initial pursuit is a longer story, but I can definitely speak on what inspires me to keep going! Directing is never monotonous and rarely isolating– each project is a little village, with new faces, different stakes, and fresh challenges. I love getting to know people by working with them. Every set has so many memories, and the final product crystallizes our collective experience from that time.

Early bird or night owl?

NIGHT OWL