We had the good fortune of connecting with Eli Fischer and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Eli, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I think art is the most necessary avenue for understanding human connections and human emotion. Whenever you feel sad, you go to turn on a sad song or watch a sad movie. Whenever you feel love you turn to poetry about romance, or you watch romantic-comedies. There is a comfort in realizing this feelings you are experiencing are not singular, but rather they are inclusive to the human condition. That is why I want to pursue a creative career, to help understand my own life and understand why I am feeling certain things at certain times.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Right now, I am just at the beginning of my journey and that’s so exciting. There is a real pressure to succeed immediately, especially amongst my generation. If you define success as making a lot of money or gaining a lot of notoriety then you have these stories of people that are much younger than you that are much further along the life cycle. Everyone is marching towards the rest of their life, and I am really keen to just let that come to me when it is supposed to arrive. So, while I am working relentlessly on sets and new projects, the biggest challenge I have had is to remind myself that it shouldn’t all come at once. I do think that you need to be the right mixture of gullible and driven to even think about trying to make money off the arts, just because we are surrounded by people who see art as a luxury. There is a real sense of reward when sticking with a project that challenges you, it promotes internal growth and hopefully improvement.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If I was showing Houston to someone for the first time, my immediate thought is to show off the historic Houston Heights. This is the area of the city where I spend most of my time. Delicious food, fun pop shops, exciting markets, and the most walkable areas of the city. River Oaks Theater is set to re-open sometime during 2024, which is absolutely fantastic and is the result of the effort of the wonderful Friends of River Oaks Theater. That theater is a historic landmark, so that is something I would love to show off. There is a lot of history in Houston, it’s a lot of history that not a ton of outsiders are aware of, so that’s what I would love to demonstrate. I want to show the historical aspects of the city.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would not have the same love for movies without my parents, as well as my girlfriend and her family. The summer before entering high school, my parents sat me down and showed me a ton of movies that they loved, stuff that was seminal to developing my own tastes. They continue to foster my love of film to this very day, and there is hardly a conversation that goes by where we don’t get into a discussion about film. Another major reason for my passion sprouting into full fledged obsession was watching anything and everything with my girlfriend and her family. The movie theater became the go to date night. We didn’t know what to do? Well, lets go to the movies and see something. This helped me not hold my own tastes in such high regard, it really expanded my palate. Without a doubt I am not who I am today without the fostering of these relationships and the encouragement of everyone around me.
Website: https://efischerfilms6.wixsite.com/eli-fischer-films
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/efischerfilms?igsh=bm1oZTd0a2lkYTB3&utm_source=qr
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@LoadofLemonsFilm?si=FjD7N640XzZ5N-Js
Other: https://youtube.com/@inwoodparkproductions?si=FYUrD4bNgX-SLX6B – My work as a Cinematographer
Image Credits
Eli Fischer Inwood Park Productions Jacquelyn Garcia