Juliette Ho has always appreciated the emotional complexity in storytelling, from her early days focusing on literature to her present-day career as a film colorist. Like the color her work is focused on, there are nearly limitless hues in the perspective of different characters and different themes. It’s this expansive range of opportunities which allows Juliette to maintain such a high level of enthusiasm throughout her career. Her passion of filmmaking is palpable. From tales of sibling connection (NYIFA and Los Angeles Film Awards winner Blub Blub) to hundreds of millions of plays of ReelShort productions like The Heiress Strikes Back (over 62 million plays) and The Three Badass Who Want Me (25 million plays), Juliette’s resume boasts both critical and commercial success. When at its best, film can do much more than entertain, it can offer empathetic understanding. Some of the recent productions which have utilized Juliette’s skill as a colorist exhibit how this is done in 2025. To become more aware of others is to feel their joys and their suffering; these films are extraordinary in achieving these ends.
Ruse is a film of young girls, dangling somewhere between innocence and awareness. An official selection of such prestigious events as the Berlin International Film Festival, the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, the Palm Spring Short Fest, and Vienna Shorts (all Oscar/BAFTA qualifying), Director writer Rhea Shukla’s story is more of an emotional experience than pure narrative. Three young girls are left without parental supervision to entertain themselves. They play games and start a dance rehearsal which becomes the catalyst for discovering a new side of themselves. There is a marvelous beauty to this film, one which Juliette gained more respect for as she worked on it. She reveals, “There was already so much inherent beauty in the production design, costume, and light—so much lived-in texture and vivid, emotive color—that my focus became about holding space for that beauty to emerge. I wasn’t layering on a look or forcing clarity. I was simply clearing the path—removing distraction, honoring contrast, softening what needed gentleness—so the emotional current of the film could flow without interruption. In that sense, yes, there were ‘problems’ to address. But more than anything, my task was to embrace imperfection, to lean into the film’s vulnerability rather than mask it. What emerged through that process was not a fixed film, but a restored one—true to its own rhythm, tone, and internal logic.” The soul of this film is in its realism, one which communicates how thin the delineation between childhood and adulthood actually is. In honoring and preserving this with a thoughtful and light approach, Juliette exhibits that the height of professionalism is knowing how much and how little to do.
Juliette’s contributions to Jeremy Tianyu Chi’s Ice Cream Ice Queen prove how powerful a colorist can be. Rather than pursuing a linear approach, the film tells the story of a lonely Chinese woman’s unexpected connection with her son’s lesbian teacher through juxtaposition and contrast. One of the most powerful assets in achieving the emotional intent of the story is the color which is an essential storytelling tool in a shifting creative landscape. The film’s palette is rooted in cool, subdued tones to express the protagonist’s loneliness and emotional detachment, while carefully introducing subtle color accents to hint at buried feelings and fragile hope. One example is the scene in which the protagonist visits the ice cream shop. This moment is bright and playful on the surface, but underneath it, there is a quiet tension—a sense of displacement and emotional distance. Juliette describes, “In the grade, we cooled down the surrounding environment, subtly pulling back on the warmth of the ambient tones to create a sense of detachment. At the same time, we preserved the vibrancy of the ice cream colors and interior decor. This created a slight contrast between the protagonist and her environment: she exists in this cheerful, childlike space but isn’t quite able to access its emotional warmth. The result is a dissonance that visually reinforces her inner disconnection.” The film is populated with moments like this, profoundly felt by the audience but only understood regarding technique by the most savvy of film enthusiasts. In addition to its award from the 2025 International Queer & Migrant Film Festival Amsterdam, Ice Cream, Ice Queen was an official selection of Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival, KASHISH Pride Film Festival, Korea Queer Film Festival, and numerous others, attesting to its international allure.
Juliette Ho is currently in the midst of a plethora of films that range from Alex Jiang’s Tropic of Cancer which explores gender roles and societal expectations to Mengsheng Valen Zeng’s Welcome Party, an examination of the need for connection via the experiences of a young girl’s involvement in the school badminton team, and others. Her extraordinary skill and dedication for supporting the vision of the directors whom she works with has made her a highly coveted asset in the current film industry. There’s a purity to her affinity for the creative process, whether she’s advising on set or perusing hours of footage in the coloring process. Juliette reveals, “It’s not the red-carpet moments or the awards that are most memorable to me. There are times when you are on set, sneaking a slice of pizza and maybe you’re tired and even a little cold but it’s in these moments when time slows down a little, and you remember that you’re not just working—you’re existing in something together.”
Writer: Basil Thomson
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