Los Angeles-based filmmaker Alice Gu is committed to using her fascination with creative visuals and a good challenge to guide a compellingly story.
“I started my career as a director of photography,” she told Adweek for our AAPI Creative Spotlight series. “The challenge of telling a story in 30 seconds has always been very appealing for me, as it forces you to make some very creative decisions.”
Although Gu has worked on various projects for a number of brands, one piece of work that continues to stand out for her isn’t an ad, but rather a documentary. The Donut King tells the unlikely story of how a Cambodian refugee arrived to America in 1975 and built a multimillion-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry.
“The Donut King was my first foray into a feature length film. I took all the lessons I learned from advertising and applied them to this film—my years of filming tabletop, honing in on the story I want to tell, making the film fun and alluring,” Gu said.
Pushing the creative envelope
On her ideal client: Like most creatives, Gu looks for clients that challenge the way stories are told the same way she does.
“I’m always looking to collaborate with someone or a brand who is a wonderful creative partner,” she said. “Someone who wants to push things visually and tell a story in a clever way and is committed to doing the best work—and we can have an open and honest dialogue about how to best pull it off. Perhaps, most importantly, someone who wants to have fun on our creative journey together.”
On what she hopes to accomplish over the coming year: “I’m looking to do better and more creative work. I’m looking to collaborate with creative directors, sound designers, editors, VFX, colorists who can all gel together and create beautifully engaging, poignant, fun work. On the long form side, I’m in development with two feature docs and a scripted feature.”
To view the entire AAPI Creative Spotlight series for 2022, click here.
