Sy Huq, a four-time Oscar-qualified Bangladeshi-American film director, screenwriter, and producer, is known for his work in "Things That Fall" (2019), "Boys" (2021), and "Oh, Mighty Ocean" (2022). He has also worked on “The Journey” (2021) which was the first Saudi-Japanese animation feature in history. He has recently joined a major anime studio, D'ART Shtajio as Lead Executive Producer, with the CEO Arthell Isom, which is historically known as the first Black-owned anime studio in Japan's history.
Sy talked to Dhaka Tribune Showtime’s Tanzim Pervaz about his experience in the entertainment industry.
How did you start working in the entertainment industry?
It’s kind of a blast from the past, now that it has been many years that I have done this. I would say that the true start was in 2018. I mean, I have been writing most of my life, I did my undergrad in English and creative writing. From there I started to focus on the business of creating and bringing things to life, like bringing the writings to life. So ultimately, I ended up at the UCLA producer program in 2018 and graduated from that, from there I got the knowledge to produce. Like today more than ever writers should be empowered and I think they deserve the power to be able to create their own work. From there, I wanted to demonstrate how to do that and started on my first short film after winning a few contests. I won a number of screenplay contests internationally, with the screenplay called “Things that fall”. And then “Things that fall” turned into a full-fledged short film and directing as well, it was my first directorial debut and it was an incredible production, it was with some of the most amazing collaborators that I still work with to this day. And it definitely gave me very quick education in not only how to make productions move more efficiently and create a hub of collaboration and you also learn though a lot of mistakes, right? and that’s what creates a strong filmmaker, the more films you make. And I started my path, making more and more films, and now we’re in double digits with films, with new things I’m making and I’m in animation now, And with animation, it’s a new and exciting method.
How did you start working in the anime industry?
It’s interesting. I think both are totally different types of entertainment for sure and I think its very interesting to kind of look at it, especially just from reading things that I have done in the past. I have never really looked at it as like switching to animation, as still work on live action projects. Like I’m working on two feature films that are in production right now. But what animation is, animations is also something I loved growing up. I think as a creator having a multifaceted love for things is really important and I grew up loving Kurosawa films as much as I love Miyazaki films. And when I started to find a little bit of confidence in how to make productions happen and it was a less of a learning curve and more of how can I just scale up my ability to create and work and produce and direct. I found that it was the perfect time to give animation a shot at an international level. My first few collaborations are actually projects that are in development right now and I can’t talk about them. But there are some projects that have already started to come out on, and animation takes a while to be made. And one of the projects that have already come out is “The Journey”. It was the first Saudi-Japanese multi-studio anime in history. It was really cool to be able to be a part of something, where you’re presenting anime and the pathway to anime to whole new market and a new audience who can also be inspired to express themselves and create their own animation. Which live action it takes a bit of training with animation it can a big project and it can be a small project but ultimately, it’s something that adaptable, it’s something someone can do from their living room. The medium is very versatile and it is easy to be inspired to make your own and just dive into it right away so with that I knew that animation had the potential to inspire a vast number of people and it’s a market that’s still globalizing, especially anime as it’s still globalizing today. It’s a lot more mainstream, like today its part of people’s identity and its part of pop culture, artists, musicians they represent it through the things that they like so much. Like you got BillIe Eilish wearing “Death Note” gear, things like that. It’s really cool to see the acceptance of it, it shows more than just acceptance of anime but the acceptance of being who you are or who you want to be and that’s a pretty powerful statement to have.
What would your role be in D’ART Shtajio?
So recently, the talk of the town is that I’m joining as the lead executive producer. This wasn’t something out of the blue for me, I had prior collaborations with D’ART Shtajio and their CEO Arthell, a couple projects, and again those secret projects, that we can’t really reveal. What I get do in that role, especially with an iconic studio such as that is to be able to create and develop and they really championed my writing, my storytelling ability, my narrative, navigational ability. But they also want to acknowledge and want to utilize my executive power, my ability to do politics and build bridge between multiple cultures. The main goal is to inspire others and make a difference.
Would you try to adapt stories from other cultures into anime?
We are actually heading in that direction right now, currently our CEO Arthell is co-directing a film called “Mfinda” which is going to be the first Congolese anime. It deals with a lot Congolese mythology and their background. What are going to do is display that we can bring those kinds of stories to life and what’s really exciting for me is, it parallels really well with the ideas of Bangladeshi mythology but also a little bit on the historical aspect of it as well. Like one of all time favorite film is “Grave of the fireflies”, like it’s so impactful, you can’t really forget the imagery and some of the story telling that they have done in it. At the end of 2022, I actually came to Bangladesh with my dad and went to the country side. We shot basically my dad’s life, from when was exposed to war as a child in 1971 all the way to how he found safe lands to hide with his family. It was actually pretty remarkable as we were shooting it, how a story can be so unbiased from the eyes of a child.
Do you have any remarkable memories you want to share while working on all these projects?
“Things that fall” one of the most amazing things about that film was that it was representing the deaf community and those who hear voices, auditory schizophrenia like my late uncle had. So basically, for me to represent and fight for an issue of mental health was something I wanted to display, especially as a south Asian as we don’t really put much of a spotlight on the conversation of mental health. So, one of moments we had during film was where our lead actors Stephanie Nogueras and Sterling Beaumon are supposed to show genuine connectivity, especially because Sterling’s character in the film doesn’t know ‘sign’ and also Stephanie who is deaf in real life. They actually had that moment and connection in real life and on screen, so it was a very unique and genuine moment. But to get that moment on camera was difficult, so the first few takes weren’t landing. So, it’s just a spur of the moment decision I had make was to make them play rock paper scissors. So, as they started playing before they even realized it, they were communicating and creating the connection while trying to figure out playing rock paper scissors. And ultimately when they played the connection was already there.
Do you have any advice for some who wants get into the entertainment industry?
There are multiple levels to it, it also matters what market you’re in first. I can only speak to Hollywood cause that’s where I started. But I also acknowledge that Hollywood is often the destination for a lot of the people because it admittedly stage where there is a lot of exposure and a lot of eyes on what being released in Hollywood. If that is the goal for artists and creators across the globe. I would advice, first thing what you should do is very specifically and down to the nitty gritty is to figure out what you exactly want to do. You should know what you exactly want to do first then you can actually come up with the plan on how to get there vs something vague like “I want to be a director who’s win an Oscar someday.” if you do that you really give yourself the runway to be able figure out what to do next. And when that’s done and you’re in a space to write, create or direct you should really lean on your personal experience and ability. I think the hard-set skills that you learn from film school or on set. On set is something I highly recommend. Addition of learning is best thing in my eye because you learn more by being on set and learning, that is the highest form of education, listening to someone in how films work and film school is great but ultimately what you experience is far more valuable. I like to look it like the stars in the night sky, the star in the night sky you actually look at is not the star in actuality cause it take so for that light to reach us. It’s the same thing with anything you learn in film school doesn’t really have the retention of the industry cause the industry shifts so fast, so by the time you try implement the things that you learn in film school in practice, you find out that it not relevant anymore.
