Inside the Making of Accept The Call with Eunice Lau | Notes From Set

What do you do when the story you’re telling challenges everything people think they know? In this episode of Notes From Set, director and producer Eunice Lau breaks down the making of her feature documentary, Accept the Call — a deeply personal story about a Somali American father trying to understand why his son was caught in an FBI counterterrorism sting after attempting to leave the country to join ISIS. What begins as a national news story becomes something far more intimate: a father and son finding their way back to each other. From spending over three years building trust with her subjects to shaping the film around real prison phone calls, Eunice shares the creative and ethical decisions that defined the project. She reflects on her background in journalism, the limitations of short-form reporting, and why documentary filmmaking requires patience, empathy, and the willingness to sit with uncomfortable truths. This is a candid conversation about trust, perspective, responsibility, and what it means to tell stories that aim to create understanding in a divided world. Eunice Lau is a director and producer whose work explores identity, belonging, and the human stories behind complex global issues. A former journalist for print and television, she transitioned into filmmaking to tell deeper, more nuanced stories. Accept the Call is her first feature documentary, and she has since gone on to develop additional feature documentary films. Watch the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VztO1GACQ3Q About Eunice Lau: A genre-jumping filmmaker and former journalist, Eunice’s work lives at the intersection of truth and imagination. From gang wars in Atlanta to time rifts in Kyoto, her stories span genres but remain grounded in emotional truth. Her feature documentaries have aired on Discovery, PBS, Amazon, AppleTV, and YouTube Originals, earning her the NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Documentary Directing at the 2024 Woodstock Film Festival. Whether chronicling climate grief through compost (in Son of the Soil) or confronting inherited trauma and radicalization (in Accept the Call), Eunice’s work explores existential questions about humanity and the search for meaning in a turbulent world. A proud alum of the Film Independent Episodic Lab sponsored by Netflix, she is currently developing her feature documentary A-Town Boyz into an original drama series about two Asian-American teens caught between rap stardom and gang wars. She’s also behind the adaptation of Lovelier, Lonelier (by Daryl Qilin Yam), a fantasy sci-fi mystery set during the 1996 passage of Comet Hyakutake, where love, memory, and time collapse in a parallel world. Her work is supported by the Jerome Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and she is featured in publications such as The New York Times, Variety, and Filmmaker Magazine. Eunice holds an MFA in Film Directing from New York University. She lives in New York City, and volunteers at Singapore Unbound, a literary and advocacy nonprofit organization. SUBSCRIBE TO ADORAMA CINEMA: 🎞️ https://www.youtube.com/@AdoramaCinema ___________ ✘ FEATURED GEAR: Canon EOS C70 Digital Camera Body, RF Mount https://www.adorama.com/canon-eos-c70-digital-camera-body-rf-mount/p/cac70rf Canon EOS R8 Mirrorless Camera https://www.adorama.com/canon-eos-r8-mirrorless-camera-body-full-frame-24mp/p/car8 Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM Lens https://www.adorama.com/canon-rf-16-mm-f-2-8-stm-lens/p/car1628 Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM Lens https://www.adorama.com/canon-rf-35-mm-f-1-4-l-vcm-lens/p/car3514 Manfrotto 504X Fluid Video Head with Carbon Fiber Twin Leg Video Tripod and Mid-Level Spreader https://www.adorama.com/manfrotto-504x-fluid-video-head-carbon-fiber-tripod-mid-level-spreader/p/bgmvk504xtmc Aputure Light Storm 600c Pro II 600W RGBWW LED Light V-Mount https://www.adorama.com/aputure-light-storm-600c-pro-ii-rgbww-led-light-v-mount/p/ap30332a20 Aputure Light Storm LS C300d Mark II LED Light Kit with Gold Mount Battery Plate https://www.adorama.com/aputure-light-storm-ls-c300d-mark-ii-led-light-kit-gold-mount/p/apc300d2akit #filmmaking #cinematicvideo #adoramacinema ___________ 𝔸𝔻𝕆ℝ𝔸𝕄𝔸 ⫸ TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@adoramanyc ⫸ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/adorama/ ⫸ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/adorama/ ⫸ Twitter https://twitter.com/adorama MORE 𝔸𝔻𝕆ℝ𝔸𝕄𝔸 ⫸ Shop online https://www.adorama.com/l/Video/ ⫸ Shop in-store https://www.adorama.com/g/nyc-store ⫸ Rent https://www.adoramarentals.com/ ⫸ Business https://www.adorama.com/business/solution/video/ ⫸ Blog https://www.adorama.com/alc/category/video/ ⫸ Print https://www.printique.com/ ___________ Directed by Ryan Johnson www.ryanjohnson.work ___________ Deepen your understanding of filmmaking; we can't wait to have you back!