GAYATRI EVERITT BAJPAI - DIRECTOR | WRITER

Gayatri Everitt Bajpai is a filmmaker based in Vancouver. She earned her MFA in Film Production at UCLA, where she won Directors' Spotlight Awards for two of her short films, Housewarming and Muck, and produced a documentary about Francis Ford Coppola's live cinema project Distant Vision. For her thesis film, Bajpai was one of three filmmakers chosen to direct a segment of an anthology feature executive produced by James Franco. Gayatri and her co-director Nirav Bhakta have since won HBO’s 2019 APA Visionaries with their short film Halwa, which has gone on to garner awards at festivals around the world. Bajpai is developing her first feature.

YU CHEN - PROFESSOR | DIRECTOR | WRITER

Professor Yu Chen graduated from the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy and obtained his doctorate degree from the Directing Department of Central Academy of Drama. Since 2002, Chen has been teaching at the Art School of Peking University.

As an academic, Chen published many influential papers such as Comparative Theory of Film and Drama Ontology and Reading Film in Yanyuan: The Industry and Aesthetics of Time-Image. His work focused on the theory of film ontology, the theory of screenwriting and director authorship, and the theory of film narration. His work further expanded to genre research and industry analysis. Chen received numerous awards and wide recognition within the industry for his contributions. As a creative, Chen participated in many projects across film, TV, and digital space. He wrote two films directed by the famed auteur Zhang Yimou, Strong as a Rock and Sniper. Chen’s TV series Hero of The Gate, also won the first prize in the Chinese TV series Flying Apsaras Award.

QIANG CHENG - DIRECTOR | WRITER | PROFESSOR

Qiang Cheng is a professor at Beijing Film Academy, where he graduated in 2011 with a Ph.D. degree. He has numerous scholarly publications exploring various film theory topics in-depth, ranging from the making of TV episodes to types of cinematic techniques. In addition to his academic reputation, Cheng has directed multiple popularly recognized TV dramas, such as Survivor to Healer, Love Marathon, Double Sided Adhesive Tape, The Clock is Ticking. His creative theme primarily focused on normal people’s daily lives and revealed the social concerns most relevant to the broad Chinese audience

FOUNG-HON CHIANG - DIRECTOR | EXECUTIVE

Foung-Hon Chiang has over 20 years of experience directing Taiwanese idol drama. He brought to the audience numerous popular TV titles, such as Summer Desire, Meteor Garden 2, and Lonely Gourmet Taipei, and has received frequent recognition from Taiwan TV Golden Bell Award for his works. As the founder and CEO of Three-Giant Production, Chiang has discovered and inspired multiple generations of artists through the early stage of their careers. He worked with Alyssa Jingwen Jia, and Ariel Yichen Lin, in their debut show Jia Jia Fu, and with the recent rising star Neo Minghao Hou in Cambrian Period. Chiang stays connected to the young audience, strives to understand their opinions and preference, and carries on his mission of incubating the next generation of creative talents.

EWAN GOTFRYD - DIRECTOR | PRODUCER

Ewan Gotfryd is an Emmy-winning director and a Sundance-winning producer with over fifteen years of experience. He began his career creating content for several hit YouTube channels including the iconic Sesame Street, generating billions of views and millions of subscribers. He has since gone on to work as a creative for major networks and studios such as NBCUniversal and Paramount Pictures, and HBO etc. Under the guidance of Beavis & Butt Head creator, Mike Judge, Gotfryd tapped into his comedic roots and developed and directed the animated pilot, Adults Only. Currently, he is in pre-production for his feature documentary, Motionless. Academy award winner Helen Mirren will helm the narration of this film, which dives into the world’s most underrepresented disabilities caused by neurological disorders and spinal cord injuries. 

RAN HAO - WRITER | DIRECTOR | PRODUCER

Ran Hao is a renowned director at Beijing Film Studio, known for his extensive and groundbreaking work in Chinese entertainment. He was also one of the first Chinese filmmakers to get American representation. Hao wrote, directed, and produced Sudden Lover, which was selected at Tokyo International Film Festival and Asian Film Awards. His art film Dowry was also selected by the Cannes Film Festival. Hao’s creative credit expands beyond film. He co-directed the hit TV series Struggle with Baogang Zhao in 2007. 

BRENDA HSUEH - WRITER | PRODUCER | DIRECTOR

Growing up in New York City, Brenda Hsueh was an English major and planned on staying in New York as a news writer. Despite graduating from the prestigious Yale university, she never thought to be a professional storyteller due to her Asian sensibility. Since then, Hsueh has several hit TV series under her belt, such as How I Met Your Mother on CBS, Sullivan & Son on TBS and Disjointed on Netflix. Currently, she has finished writing a soon-to-be-released feature for Pixar and a half-hour pilot about a Chinese-American family for Disney Plus.  

CINDY YOU-HUA HUANG - PRODUCER | EXECUTIVE

Cindy You-Hua Huang is a veteran Taiwanese TV drama producer. She is the creative director of Three-Giant Production, a production and talent management company based in Taiwan known for being the incubator of Taiwanese idol stars. Previously she worked at Taiwan Gala Television, and was appointed the marketing lead of Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee. Her TV production works include Summer Desire, Mysterious Incredible Terminator, True Love, and Lonely Gourmet Taipei. Remember Our Love, a TV miniseries Huang produced, received 5 nominations at the 45th Taiwan TV Golden Bell Awards in 2010, and won the Best Cinematography and Best Actress 

YING LIANG - PRODUCER | EXECUTIVE

Ying Liang is a film producer based in Beijing with 12 years of experience in international co-production and strategy for Chinese-IP-based films. After graduating with a Master’s degree in Human Sciences in France, Liang worked on film production and festival circuits in Europe. She then joined Hong Kong production company Chinese Shadow as Head of Production, developing film projects from Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye, and Eddie Cahyong. Meanwhile, she was also in charge of acquisition for the international sales company Asian Shadows. Since 2018, Liang has been a partner and producer for the independent production house Factory Gate Films. Her film projects were selected by the world’s most selective programs such as l’Atelier in Cannes, Cinemart in Rotterdam, APM in Busan, HAF of Hong Kong Film Festival, and Beijing Film Festival. Liang’s recent projects include award winning films, such as Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by Xiaogang Gu, Balloon by Tseden Pema, and Damp Season by Ming Gao.

JASON LIN - PRODUCER | EXECUTIVE 

Jason Lin is a film producer and executive with deep knowledge in both Chinese and American markets. He started his film career at Jet Li Production Studios and held executive positions at UTA and Alibaba Pictures. His producing credits include Academy Award winner Green Book, and box office hits such as A Dog’s Journey, A Dog's Purpose, The Forbidden Kingdom, and Jet Li’s Fearless. 

In 2019, Lin founded Story Arch Pictures to develop and produce mainstream, cross-cultural, and socially-relevant film and TV series for a global audience. As an Asian American, Lin is dedicated to bringing visibility to underrepresented Asian talents both in front of and behind the camera. 

YI LIU - WRITER

When Yi Liu started his career, he was known to be the youngest filmmaker in Chinese film history. He has been prolific in both film and TV, producing some of the most epic IP in Chinese literature. His Wolf Warrior cinematic universe has generated the highest box office performance in China. Liu’s TV credits include the iconic Journey to the West remake, multiple Wuxia (Chinese martial art) canons based on the books by the legendary Yong Jin, and The Legend of Young Justice Bao series. Liu’s work is well known and beloved by an enormous fanbase. Liu has earned many major awards including the most prestigious Golden Eagle Award. Liu has been devoting his time to various film festivals as a judge around the world and his mission is to discover great stories from the Chinese perspective. 

ROBERT MAXWELL - EXECUTIVE

Rob Maxwell has a 15-year career in the Media & Entertainment industry developing intellectual property business models and technologies.  His experience includes the development of talent tracking, script clearance, creative affairs deal management, and TV episodic and feature film rights management. Maxwell currently serves as Vice President of Media & Networks for Sony Pictures where he is building next-generation tools for greenlighting new TV productions.

YONGXIAN QUAN - WRITER | AUTHOR 

Yongxian Quan is a famed spy thriller genre writer who has mastered storytelling in both film and TV. He was the writer of the hit TV series, Snow Wolf and also the showrunner for another TV epic, The Brink, which has swept Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award, China TV Golden Eagle Award, and the Tripod Award. Quan has won Shanghai TV Festival’s Best Screenwriter Award and Beijing Film & TV Association’s Best Screenwriter Award, and the list goes on. This year, he partnered with Zhang Yimou for a new spy thriller film: Cliff Walker.

Quan credited his success to his expertise in deciphering characters, which are the foundation for all of his work. As a result, every move of his characters tugs at the audience’s heartstrings. Quan became a screenwriter wishing to bring to the audience historical stories that are gradually fading out in our memories. Many other Chinese filmmakers have joined Quan on this path.

RACHEL XIAOWEN SONG - PRODUCER | WRITER | EXECUTIVE

Rachel Song studied film and philosophy at Peking University and was educated at the Pratt Institute and Carnegie Mellon University. She began her career as a producer for director Qinxin Tian’s musical Nightclub and We Are All Sick. She later became a cross-cultural filmmaker, founding Vantage Entertainment and XS Media. In 2018, two films produced by Song premiered at Sundance, A Kid Like Jake (starring Priyanka Chopra, Octavia Spencer, and Jim Parson) and Nancy (starring Steve Buscemi and Andrea Riseborough). Despite the vast differences between Hollywood and China, Song returned to her home country to groom future auteur filmmakers with global appeal. Her first Chinese-language film under the XS banner, Summer Night, will premier in Beijing on June 11th, 2021. 

DWAIN WORRELL - AUTHOR| WRITER | PRODUCER

Dwain Worrell is an author, screenwriter, and producer from Boston, Massachusetts. Worrell is a Mandarin speaker and he has translated many scripts between Chinese and English. In recent years, Worrell has worked on some of the biggest IPs in the industry such as feature The Wall, Marvel’s Iron Fist series, and FBI: Most Wanted on Paramount+.  

STEVE YUEN - DIRECTOR | PRODUCER

Steve Yuen started his career as a commercial director in 1994. He was always fascinated by storytelling, acting, and visual experiences. It became a lifetime passion for Yuen to integrate his fascinations into a seamless presentation. This unique creative approach helped Yuen garner numerous prestigious advertising awards throughout the years and established him as one of the most sought-after talents in Asia. He works extensively with agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather and Leo Burnett to produce content for global brands including Motorola, Unilever, Hutchison, China Mobile, and McDonald’s. At the same time, he ventured into long-form storytelling by making two documentaries, Source of Yangtze River Expedition and Tibetan Nunnery. He then went on to become a major film director with credits including Heaven in the Dark and Legally Declared Dead.

jUEFANG zHANG - DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Juefang Zhang is an NYU-Tisch graduate producer and director, currently working as the Director of Development at EST Media. A former creative executive at Starlight Media, she has worked on "MALIGNANT" by James Wan and "MIDWAY" by Roland Emmerich. She has established a diversity fund with Sundance and spearheaded the “Stars Collective” program to promote BIPOC filmmakers. In 2018, she worked in the directing team of “THE DIARY” directed by Jackie Chan. In 2019, she directed “DETOUR” which has been selected into the Top 12 HFPA Snow Leopard Scholarship at Asian World Film Festival and won the Best Film Award at Space And Time Film Festival. In 2020, she co-produced a documentary Wuhan Wuhan (HotDoc Premiere) with Academy Award winner Donna Gigliotti and Academy Award nominee Diane Quon.