JUDY PHU
director of photography

Judy is a cinematographer in the International Cinematographer's Guild, IATSE local 600. She earned MFAs at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and TV. While working in radio (KALX 90.7fm) and chasing Bay Area curiosities with The Daily Californian at UC Berkeley, she studied narratives in the Rhetoric department along with experimental film+video in the Art Practice department. 

Credits include HBO's GOD SAVE TEXAS, a trilogy series inspired by Lawrence Wright's critically acclaimed book, episode LA FRONTERA, which premiered at Sundance and is now streaming on HBO MAX.  She is 1 of 3 DPs for the hybrid feature THE TUBA THIEVES, which premiered at Sundance, theatrically released in select cities, and is currently on PBS INDEPENDENT LENS. It won Best Cinematography at the 2024 GEM Fest at Vancouver International Film Festival.

The Mexico landscape driven WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND world debuted at SXSW, won the Fandor New Voices Award and the Louis Black "Lone Star" Award, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Gotham Awards. The film is distributed by ARRAY on NETFLIX. 

Multiple award winning indie film RAISE YOUR HAND takes us on a best friend journey with two high school girls in the 90s. It was nominated for Best Narrative Feature at the American Black Film Festival. 

OTTOLENGHI AND THE CAKES OF VERSAILLES allowed Judy to dance with cameras through irreplaceable 19th century sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and visually wander the Palace of Versailles, while delighting in the creative world of pastry. The film premiered at Tribeca, was released theatrically by IFC, and is available on HULU.

Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman created and performed on the dramedy show THIS CLOSE (additional cinematographer), and are the first deaf TV showrunners. The series premiered at Sundance in the Episodic Showcase, and are NYT Critic's picks for both seasons. Season 2 was nominated for a Peabody Award. S1 and S2 are on AMC+ and SUNDANCE TV. 

She spent three years throughout the beautiful state of Missouri capturing Emmy-nominated HBO original ABORTION: STORIES WOMEN TELL. It premiered at Tribeca, theatrically released in select cities across the U.S., and is on HBO MAX.