Filmmaker Joey Yee, aka, Uncle Fuz (S4E14)

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

So many San Francisco born-and-raised folks' stories go way, way back. That's certainly the case for Joey Yee.

Joey begins Part 1 telling us about his maternal grandfather, who was from Isleton and was a pilot in World War II. After he came back from war, he met Joey's grandma, who was born and raised in SF. He charmed his future wife by giving her the biggest tomatoes she'd ever seen. Joey's grandfather wanted to put roots down, and so he bought a building in San Francisco.

His dad's dad immigrated to the US from China. Joey's parents met ice skating and dated for eight years before getting married. After living in Daly City a short time, they moved back to the family house, the one his grandfather bought on Nob Hill. Joey was born during this time.

When he was 12, the family moved to the Richmond District. Joey regrets that he didn't explore Nob Hill when they lived there, but he goes on to share his early Giants memories and describes games at Candlestick.

He tells us about the public schools he went to, eventually ending up at Washington High in the Richmond. It was there that Joey started dabbling in video classes. That's when his love of video, film, and editing began.

In Part 2, Joey talks about knowing that he wanted to continue learning how to make movies, and how he went to SF State. And then he entered a Justin Lin video contest, and, to his surprise, was one of the finalists.

Joey tells us about a career detour that came after that: He learned about a sleep-technology course, and got a job in that industry that required tough hours (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.). In 2014, a friend told him about a video-editing job at Kink.com that he ended up getting. He was there a couple years before moving over to CBS Interactive to work on gameplay videos.

From there, we pivot to when and how Joey figured out that he loves his hometown—San Francisco.

He ends the podcast talking about making movies about the Richmond District and how he got the " Uncle Fuz" nickname.

To see Joey's photo and video love letters to San Francisco, following him on Instagram and Twitter.

We recorded this podcast at Sutro Heights Park in May 2021.