American Golden Picture
International Film Festival
AN INTERVIEW WITH Louis Lam, DIRECTOR
As a filmmaker, please introduce yourself.
My name is Dr. Louis Lam, a medical physician and expeditionist, a cultural anthropologist, and
an inde film producer & director who travels around the world to tell inspirational stories about
the local people and culture, their views about themselves versus the world, and their current issues
as well as life philosophies that reflect much wider influences.
Why you became a filmmaker (as director, producer, writer, Cinematographer or even editor)?
I was already intrigued by film making as a small child for I found stories being told through moving images,
colour, and emotions are much richer and dynamic. Because of my own cultural pressure,
I elected to study medicine with an undergraduate degree in anthropology and psychology.
Now my childhood passion has been creeping up to haunt me to do what I have always wanted to do from the start.

 Give some more information about yourself and the films you have made so far, about your experience?
Over the past three years, I started traveling a lot right after the pandemic lockdown initially to places
without any need for quarantine. I started filming about the natural ways of eating healthily with
In Search of Protein among the Masia tribes in Tanzania as well as the secret to be a centenarian
in the Caribbean island of Dominica. My filming became more frequent and intense landing in
many countries where I have finished three seasons of Exploring Planet with a total of 17 films
with 45-60 min long with two pending documentaries in Umbria and Peru. Each one of these documentaries
has a specific theme and story about that particular place. My plan is to do a 60 min documentary
every 6 weeks of the year.
What are the films or people that had impacts on you and deeply inspired you to become a filmmaker?
Most of the films which influenced me are great well made documentaries like The Rescue, Haulout,
The Elephant Whisperer, with very specific and impacting stories about our nature and earth.
My Exploring Planet documentary series has also been influenced by Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown
and the unique way of his story telling.
You have made many documentary films which got official selection in the
"American Golden Picture International Film Festival".
As a filmmaker, why you decided to make this kind of films?
I want to make films that have close relationship with our current issues with nature,
particularly the detachment of modern societies from nature and to raise awareness as to how
we can reconnect with it. I also want to make documentaries about how other cultures think and define life
as a reflection to the modern world how to harmonize and balance work and define happiness.
What were some of the challenges you faced in making these specific films?
I always like spontaneity when I film at different places, and this impromptu style captures
the most natural and authentic way people tell their stories and their opinion about the world.
It also presents at times some challenges when the subjects end up not very expressive and
too conservative about their views, especially during a conversation on sensitive political views
in a country with restricted freedom of speech.
Let us more about your experience in this kind of films?
The filming experience has mostly been positive and nourishing to the very topic I want to portrait.
In addition to producing a meaningful film, very often the subjects and the people I have worked
with locally become good friends. So this is not just an experience about film production,
but also bonding with people from many cultures for a lifetime.
The crew member of your films supports the subjects very well in a very effective way.
What was it like to work with them?
All my crew members know from the beginning we are making films in an authentic way,
and it is very important for them to know also they are to express their own arts, especially the camerawork
and editing. I feel that when given the freedom for artistic expression, my crews perform better
and they themselves can enjoy the process much deeper, and thus producing incredible moments in these films.
For you what was the biggest lesson you had to learn after making these documentary films?
My biggest lesson is to have learnt how to rid myself and even my audience of ethnocentrism,
prejudice, pre-conception, and ignorance about the world. It is these factors which set us apart,
put barriers among people, and brew hostility. There is so much skewed opinion on news
and shows nowadays that it is becoming almost toxic to people’s minds. 

What keeps you inspired to continue filmmaking?
Definitely curiosity, curiosity has been and will continue to be a strong driver for my filmmaking journey.
And to discover more and more, things that are still hidden but important to mankind,
might it be a way of living, a philosophical thought, or simply a healthy and harmonious way of existence.
The most important part is distributing the films. What did you do for distributing your films?
I am a new filmmaker who has only begun merely three years ago. I am still learning about film distribution.
I am very grateful my films are recognized at film festivals, and hopefully one day, I can be more visible
in some of the platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu etc
What are your filmmaking goals?
My philosophical goal is very simple, is to inspire people with great stories. The more filming related goals
are to make better & better quality films with talents and equipment, as well as making more elaborate feature documentaries in more challenging places and settings.
What is your next project?
I just finished a phenomenal shoot in the Andean mountain of Peru about the Quechua people and
their respect to mother earth. That should be finished in a month. Then my next planned documentary
will be in Tunisia and India for the remainder of 2024.
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Thank You and GOOD LUCK Louis,
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Website: www.coltfinesfilms.com
