We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Yuexi Li a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Yuexi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Ciao was my first experience as the lead editor on a feature project. It provided me with an opportunity to grow professionally and gain valuable experience by being involved in the project from pre-production to post-production.

I joined this project before shooting and went on set during their shooting. This film, Ciao, particularly focuses on bridges in China, and our shooting locations were all in various beautiful places. This made the experience more memorable for me. When you stand at the spot where can see the whole view of those bridges, seeing them connecting two location spots which with cultural differences, and sometimes with one side being a mountain view and the other a modern city. It was different to tell the power they gave you from real footage. During the days we almost locked the picture, we held a private screening for an American editor. After the screening, he expressed a desire to see these places in person and believes in the story. At that moment, I felt the resonance, because your audience got the whole film’s concept and he even wanted to go to the shooting location and experience those scenes that are imbued with the film story between characters.

The connections between people are also like bridges. During the post-production process of Ciao, we encountered unique challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were not able to have face-to-face conversations or collaborate in person with the director and other members of the film crew, which could lead to miscommunication, delays, and misunderstandings. Additionally, working remotely can create a sense of isolation and disconnection from the rest of the team, which can affect your motivation and productivity. Technical difficulties, such as slow internet speeds or inadequate equipment, can also impact the quality of your work. However, despite these challenges, working remotely with a film director can also offer unique benefits and opportunities. We communicated frequently and are eager to work together again.

In April, Ciao received a nomination for BEST FILM at the Beijing International Film Festival. This added another layer of meaning to the entire experience.

Throughout the process, my family and friends provided me with support, encouragement, and mentorship, even though some of them were not with me in person. Their emotional support helped me stay motivated and positive, and they provided valuable advice and guidance based on their own experiences and expertise.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Los Angeles-based film editor, especially for features and trailers. I went to the film academy in 2013. At that time I was super into being a director. I made my graduation work called Looper. But I decided to be an editor after that. It’s a smarter decision for me to do for a living (laugh). But my graduation work Looper did help me a lot, I know I got my first job in an Award-Winning trailer house, is because the owner watched it and he likes it. I worked for that trailer house for 3 years. This established my own goal of editing, which is using minor cuts to achieve the best results and insists that there is only one best combination of footage to present the film’s theme. My most recent feature work, call Ciao, just got nominee by Beijing Internation Film Festival. I also did the 2023 Oscars short spot for Best Actor.

Here is Ciao’s IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18252108/?ref_=ttawd_ov_i

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Using minor cuts to achieve the best results and insists that there is only one best combination of footage to present the film’s theme. And I know film editing is a job all about choice. You might worry about whether it will limit your creativity. It won’t. I insist each scene has its only combination way to show the best matches with the goal of the feature.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

It’s still very new to this world. To me, it really based on the buyer’s taste, and uniqueness. In the future, it may be the antiques   

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emmasissie.wixsite.com/yuexi
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuexi-li/