DEATHLYAFRAID is a multidisciplinary creative studio based in San Francisco. Its films, music, and works explore fear, intimacy, and humanity. Each piece studies how relationships shape us and how we navigate the world
Albert Tan is a filmmaker and artist based in San Francisco. He is the Founder & Creative Director of DEATHLYAFRAID, a multidisciplinary studio producing films, music, and works that blur the boundaries between mediums. His practice is rooted in fear, intimacy, and vulnerability, drawn to these truths as the forces that define what it means to be human.
Albert’s scrappy nature has allowed him to work across multiple fields. Growing up, art was never encouraged as a traditional path, and there was no clear roadmap for pursuing it. Out of that environment, he developed a do-it-myself attitude, teaching himself to write, direct, shoot, and engineer sound. Over time, this necessity became a discipline. As his craft expanded, so did his understanding of himself. By strengthening the connection between mind and art, Albert has cultivated a clarity that allows him to shape his work with precision and craft exactly what he envisions.
Recent projects include Tulips, an experimental short film and exhibition on transformation through grief and memory, and The Listening Room, an ongoing live music series and filmed performance archive.
Influenced by arthouse cinema and rooted in lived experience, Albert’s work seeks to capture the fragile spaces between connection and isolation, crafting films and experiences that linger as both memory and presence.