Meet Hai Le | Film Director & Film Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hai Le and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hai, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
For me, risk taking is necessary to grow as a human being, to become a better version of yourself, and to get one step closer to whatever you want to achieve in your life.

My parents took a risk and immigrated to Germany from Vietnam in order to live a better life and to provide for their family, although they didn’t speak the language or know anything about the country.
I learned from them that risk taking is an essential step to take in order to get to where you want to be in your life.

The biggest risks I have taken were my decisions to move to Japan in 2014 and to become a freelance filmmaker in 2018, after working in a Japanese company for several years.

I initially wanted to play it relatively safe, waiting for the perfect opportunity to slowly transition from my full-time job to working as a freelance filmmaker. However, I realized that there wouldn’t be a perfect time. I had to take the initiative.

It was absolutely terrifying, but as with most unknown things, it was only really frightening in the beginning. If you can overcome the initial struggle, fear will turn into excitement and you might be rewarded with something you could have never imagined.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m completely self taught, mostly from watching tons of Youtube videos and taking some online masterclasses. It was extremely tough and stressful in the beginning without having a steady flow of income. There is also a limit to how much you can learn online by yourself. Without any practical experience, I had my fair share of failure. But this didn’t stop me from learning from my mistakes. I did so by spending most of my free time going out and shooting my own projects, trying to improve my skills and broaden my portfolio.

Most of my professional work consists of creating documentaries, interviews, music videos, and such, but in 2019 I had the chance to help out on the set for a feature film. This experience showed me how beautiful the craft of creating a narrative film is.

I’ve been trying to shift my focus to directing since that time. My goal is to direct my own feature film in the future.

I shot my first short film, “Dating Game”, in 2020, which I’m excited about sharing with everyone when it has finished its festival run, hopefully this year. The comedy-drama film is about an English girl in Tokyo, who goes on dates with several different men she met on a dating app and realizes that her foreignness plays a big role in the dating experience in Japan.

Being born and raised in Germany with parents of Vietnamese descent, I have always been confronted with different cultures and languages. Now that I’m living in Japan and being a foreigner myself, I’m most interested in telling stories with a human connection that different people from different backgrounds can relate to. I want my movies to impact people emotionally.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love Tokyo. Besides visiting all the famous places like Shibuya crossing, the Gundam in Odaiba, or Sensō-ji temple with the Kaminarimon gate in Asakusa, I highly recommend staying one night at a ryokan (Japanese inn) and enjoying their onsen (hot spring). It’s an amazing experience.

If it comes to food, there is one place I’ve taken everyone to who has visited me to, (unless they don’t like meat, haha).
It’s a Yakiniku place called “Gut’s Soul.” I used to go there nearly every week.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents. They gave me the opportunity to pursue my dreams. Without their endless support I would have never been able to come so far.

I would also love to give a huge shoutout to Robert Kirsch. We have known each other since university in Germany and he was the one who encouraged me to pursue a career as a filmmaker. He is one of my closest friends and also an amazing photographer (based in Japan as well).
I highly recommend all you readers to check out his work, and to reach out to him for any of your creative needs!

Website: robertkirsch.net
Instagram: @robertkirsch

Last but not least, I want to thank all my friends who have helped me to become a better filmmaker.

Website: https://lehai.me/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timpas15/

Image Credits
Jeremy Hannigan