We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie Cherng recently and have shared our conversation below.
Stephanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
My most meaningful project that I’ve worked on is my recent short film that I wrote and directed titled, “Kingdom of Demons.” It was my first time directing a film on 16mm and it taught me a lot about how to be better director in terms of staying organized, knowing exactly what I wanted, and how to execute my thoughts well. I remember I would sneak into the offices of Rockefeller Center with my best friend/producer Aidana Razhap to write my script. She loved my script so much and encouraged me to make a film out of it. I was crippled in self doubt and fear that I shelved my script for a while but until May 2024 I decided to take the plunge and to finally shoot it. I contribute stand-up comedy for giving me that confidence to go for it because I was writing and performing for about a year and I had a flow of creativity and confidence going on. This project is so meaningful to me because I feel that I can finally call myself a filmmaker even though I made my first film when I was seventeen. Since then I’ve worked in various aspects of the film/tv industry. I’ve been an editor for most of it, production assistant, and getting coffee for big name filmmakers. I got sidetracked by working on other people’s vision and forgetting why I wanted to be a filmmaker in the first place. I love telling stories and creating beautiful meaningful art for people and that’s what excites me. So I woke up one day and decided to bet on myself by using all my efforts on my own art. It’s still a journey that I’m learning to navigate.
Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into the film/tv industry during high school when a friend of mine dragged me to join a filmmaking program with her. At that time I was interested in community service work and we wanted to make videos to promote awareness for certain things but we realized we had no filmmaking skills and she found the program. Keep in mind I had no interest in filmmaking at all! I never really liked watching movies, I was more of a reader. I ended up making a documentary about my father’s escape from the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and my film teachers were like, “Stephanie! You have a gift of editing!” and one of the founders were like, “This is one of the best documentaries so far coming out of my program.” From them on I decided to pursue it because I fell in love with the process of creating a film. It was all just so magical. I ended up getting accepted to Tribeca Film Fellows and made a short with the Tribeca Film Institute during my senior year of high school. Ever since I never stopped trying to pursue my dreams of filmmaking and being creative.
I’m most proud of my recent film that I made where I shot of 16mm because it was challenging but it was an accumulation of years of learning the craft of filmmaking. I’m proud of the story, the casting decisions, and the visuals. I’m super inspired by Wong Kar-wai so I’m in love with bold and moody colors! I’m excited to make more films with my style and to showcase my talents to the world.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’ve had to pivot many times in life but a pivot I had to do was when I was a production assistant as a major media company and then one day after work I went to eat dinner alone and I happened to sit next to a famous comedian! He suggested I do stand-up comedy because he said I was so funny but I said I was too scared to go on stage. Then a friend of mine took me to Comedy Cellar and all the comedians there said I was funny and to be a comedian. I had a pull to try stand-up comedy so I pivoted and got a job as a chess teacher to try to pursue comedy full-time. So far it’s been a journey going to open mics and doing shows. I was writing jokes everyday and just being being confident as a creative that I pivoted again and decided to finally make my film! Now I’m learning to balance both comedy and filmmaking and realizing I can do both.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the process and the creation. I love just being locked in and letting my imagination run wild. I love expressing myself as an artist whether it be through filmmaking, writing, and comedy. I had a really rough childhood growing up so I turned to reading and writing to escape from all the hardships. I wrote a lot poems and short stories. In fact, my 3rd and 5th grade teacher always praised my storytelling and urged my mom during parent teacher conference to hone my skills as a writer. She didn’t really help pursue that for me and worried about my failing math grades! When I was younger the rewarding aspect was the finished product because I was obsessed with results. Now that I’m older the most rewarding aspect is having people come up to me after they’ve seen a film I’ve done and say how they feel inspired to pursue something creative for themselves. I also love hearing how people felt moved after seeing a film of mine. It’s really the most rewarding aspect.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stephycherng.com
- Instagram: @stephycherng
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-cherng-a79b9585/
Image Credits
Personal photo shot by Cindy Sung
Cindysungphotos.com
Set of my short film “Kingdom of Demons” Written and directed by Stephanie Cherng
Screenshots from the short film