A Foley Artist

The sound magician behind the silver screen.

Story of Taiwan’s foremost foley artist and national treasure.

Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects such as punching and glass clinking during the post-production process. A Foley Artist is a biographical documentary of master foley artist, Hu Ding-yi. Hu worked at the oldest Taiwanese movie company, Central Motion Picture, since 1975. He is known to be inventive and finds interesting ways to reproduce sound effects: wearing high heels to imitate the footsteps of a woman and using an abacus to imitate the sound of an opening screen window. In Hu’s mind, every material and every object can become a tool for foley. 

After 70 films and 40 years in the film industry, Hu is faced with a career crisis as the emergence of digital sound effects are gradually replacing the job of foley artist. We see how Hu is fighting to remain relevant in an ever-changing industry, and how he is trying to pass on foley knowledge to the younger generations. The film explores Hu’s character in relation to the historic-perspective of Chinese-speaking film industry in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China.

Documentary / Color / Mandarin / Mandarin & English Subtitles / 101 min / 2016