Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Chew.
Hi Alex, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
At heart, I’m really a small town Kentucky nerd who fell in love with cinema watching Hitchcock and Wilder on Turner Classic Movies. I moved to Austin for UT’s Radio-TV-Film program and, after receiving my MFA in Film Production, I fulfilled my lifelong dream of being a teacher. Downtown Austin’s Headwater School allowed me to develop my own film program for grades 6-12 while also teaching English. I grew up always wanting to be a teacher, playing school with my sister and neighborhood pals, assigning homework, pouring hours into my lesson plans. I became a festival director for the Austin Youth Film Festival, and our internship program made filmmaking accessible to young artists 18 & under. I was so proud of my work. But over the course of a decade, my students and interns inspired me to start making movies of my own. In 2023, I co-founded the writers first production company Sequence 8 with Iris Davis-Quick. That was my first time making a non-student short with a team of professionals. Suddenly, I wasn’t on set to help teach kids how various crew roles operated… I was the director. And this was not a zero-budget student film, Help! is a period thriller about a 1960s nanny trapped in a house full of secrets and violence. It’s inspired by a true story my Granny once told me about taking care of a little boy who was “pure evil,” and the short serves as a proof-of-concept for a feature.
For the first time, I started submitting to festivals nationwide and was lucky to premiere our first Sequence 8 short at Film Quest. We went on to screen at Oscar qualifying fests like Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival as well as Denton Black Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival, Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, Rome International Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, Portland Horror Film Festival, Waco Independent Film Festival, and Twelve Lions Film Festival. Recently, Help! won awards for Best Texas Short and Best Actress at She Speaks Film Festival. It will be part of The Big Texas Little Film Tour this October.
My next horror film, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, is about a senior woman whose retirement home is haunted. It also premiered at Film Quest, then played San Antonio Film Festival and Ethereal Festival. While that continues its festival journey, I was honored to receive Austin Film Society’s Short Film Grant for another proof-of-concept called Bluegrass Radio. This comedy-thriller short is about a radio DJ who receives a call from a kidnapped woman in early 90s Frankfort, Kentucky. After being awarded Vanishing Angle’s Post Production grant, I was able to fully fund post for the project and am almost done with color correction, special fx, and sound design. So excited to share this one. It’s fun, nostalgic, and totally dedicated to my hometown. The feature was also workshopped at Austin Film Society’s prestigious Artist Intensive in 2025.
My next project will be my first feature, a horror comedy called Turkey Neck. It’s about an East Austin family who become trapped in their home thanks to an ancient curse they know nothing about. If they want to get out alive, they have to learn more about their family’s history of deadly holiday traditions. And they have to get along. Turkey Neck will be funded in part by the City of Austin’s Elevate grant.
During this post-teaching period, I also co-founded Austin’s only Black film festival–The Black Auteur Film Festival–with fellow filmmaker and friend Ryan Darbonne. We just had our third annual festival at AFS Cinema this past Juneteenth weekend and host movie events yearround!
I should also say that my literary manager, Anastasiya Kukhtareva, has been a key player in this entire journey from teacher to filmmaker.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle is always money and time, which are really one in the same. Luckily, Sequence 8 has been blessed to assemble a strong team of artists (including some former Headwaters students!) who make high-quality work in spite of indie limitations. For example, Sequence 8 made two microshorts last year. I directed the ghost story I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, and Iris directed her family drama Little Earthquakes all in one weekend. We shot both microshorts back to back with the same crew, all in one bedroom, which we designed to look and feel completely different. Within one weekend, everyone walked away with two more films under their belt. Very proud of our scrappy and talented crew.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I think I covered this in my very long answer to the first question, but I’ll just add this…
I’m a writer/director who specializes in making twisty genre films about badass Southern Black women. My Sequence 8 partner, Iris Davis-Quick, specializes in intimate dramas. We both produce for each other as well as other films that embody our mission to tell stories focused on strong female leads, misfits, and antiheroes. Our sets are diverse, inclusive, collaborative, and respectful. In fact, most of our leadership on set are women, people of color, or both. It’s not something we have to try to do. It’s just who we are. But when you look at how few Black and Brown women get these opportunities in Hollywood, we are super proud to be creating a third space for indie filmmakers like us here in Austin.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was always in “imagination land” where I re-enacted my favorite movies and plays. Or my head was stuck in a book, usually R.L. Stine or Anne Rice. So…I was a dork.
Contact Info:
- Website: sequence8films.com and blackauteurfilmfestival.com
- Instagram: @alexlovesmovies, @sequence8films, @baffestival
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-chew-b05296142/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qal8sdbZE3Q
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3375809/
