Independent Filmmaking, Reinvention, and Coming Clean About the Industry | Vince Duqué

How do you make your first feature film after spending decades helping other people bring their creative visions to life? For filmmaker Vince Duqué, the answer was to stop waiting for permission, buy a camera, and begin shooting before he had a finished screenplay. In this episode of The Holly Hughes Podcast, Holly sits down with Vince, a Filipino-American writer, director, producer, and former Hollywood assistant director now living in Paris. After more than 20 years working across studio film and television, Vince is completing his first feature as a director, *Je m’appelle Alvie Balicoco*. The autofictional independent film follows a Filipino-American immigrant living in Paris who takes his French friend on a road trip across America to see U2 at the Sphere in Las Vegas. What begins as a concert trip becomes a reckoning with loneliness, identity, abandonment, people-pleasing, and the emotional cost of reinvention. Holly and Vince also explore the unseen realities of filmmaking, the creative compromises behind Hollywood productions, and why making honest art sometimes requires accepting that not everyone will understand or support it. This is a conversation about independent filmmaking, creative courage, immigration, depression, belonging, and what happens when an artist finally decides to come clean. **What you’ll learn in this episode:** - How Vince Duqué began making his first feature film without a completed screenplay. - Why decades of Hollywood experience can make it harder to stop seeking permission and trust your creative instincts. - What autofiction is and how Vince combines real people, fictional characters, and lived experiences in his film. - Why Vince left Los Angeles for Paris and how becoming an immigrant transformed his understanding of reinvention. - How loneliness, abandonment, people-pleasing, and depression shaped the emotional core of *Je m’appelle Alvie Balicoco*. - Why an unexpected mistake on the road to Las Vegas gave the film the conflict and emotional tension it needed. - How Vince directs himself while simultaneously writing, producing, improvising, and thinking about the edit. - Why emotional truth can matter more than traditional protagonist, antagonist, and conflict formulas. - How creative rituals can help actors enter and safely leave emotionally difficult material. - Why coming clean, rather than appearing perfectly authentic, became the central message of Vince’s film. If you enjoy conversations about creativity, storytelling, personal growth, podcasting, and authentic living, be sure to subscribe for more episodes of **The Holly Hughes Podcast**. **We talk about:** 00:00 Introducing filmmaker Vince Duqué 01:42 Creating an experimental autofiction feature film 08:43 *Je m’appelle Alvie Balicoco* and the journey toward individuation 11:39 Finding the confidence to express your creative voice fully 15:45 Starting production before the story was completely written 21:20 Guerrilla filmmaking and no longer asking for permission 24:00 Navigating fear, depression, and doubt during the creative process 25:56 The reality of being a Filipino-American immigrant in Paris 27:12 Why reinvention is not always inspiring or romantic 35:42 The real-life mistake that gave the movie its conflict 39:16 Trusting emotional truth over traditional storytelling formulas 48:21 Why *Je m’appelle Alvie Balicoco* is ultimately about coming clean If you are looking for  a way to actively journal to reveal and heal the thoughts, emotions, and truth you’ve been hiding your whole life check out my guided journal, Heal to Real here: https://linktr.ee/hollyhughesintuitive **Connect with Vince**  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levinceduque/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinceduque/ - IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0243601/ - Website: https://www.vinceduquestories.com/ **Connect with Holly**  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holly\hughes\intuitive/ - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hollyhughesintuitive - Website: https://www.thehollyhughespodcast.com/