Biography
Born and raised in Beijing, China, Yan Cui started her career as an actress and assistant director at the Beijing Film Studio. After moving to Canada, Yan earned her BFA in Film and Media Arts Studies from Ryerson Polytechnical University and was a 1994 Director Resident of the prestigious Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Center. She then moved to Los Angeles for her further development as a film writer/director.
For her feature debut, Yan wrote, directed, and produced the award-winning film, CHINESE CHOCOLATE that garnered the International Confederation of Art Cinemas Award (C.I.C.A.E.Award) along with Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse at the Berlin Film Festival, the Best Director at the Palm Springs Film Festival, and has been an official selection by more than 40 film festivals around the world. It was released worldwide and ranked the top 10 box office in Brazil.
Her follow-up second feature, which she also wrote, directed, and produced, was TIAN SHANG REN JIAN (YELLOW WEDDING), a co-production between China, Singapore, and Canada, premiered in Singapore and was distributed in Asia and has been officially selected by World Film Festival of Montreal, Canada New Voice of IFFM New York, and Asian Pacific Film Festival, etc.
Yan's first Chinese romantic comedy LOVE, SIMPLY theatrically released in China nationwide in July 2015. And her latest Chinese film WHEN AFRICA MEETS YOU, a road adventure romantic story set in Zimbabwe, S. Africa, that had its world premiere in New York on October 12, 2018, its Africa premiere in Harare, Zimbabwe on March 21, 2019, and theatrically released in China nationwide on October 19, 2018. The film was premiered on Chinese National TV with over 40 million viewers who tuned in and watched it on August 25, 2020.
Yan has also made several short films and commercials, including the award-winning shorts LATE AFTERNOON, THERE TRY ALIVE, THINGS IN BETWEEN and HARM'S WAY was officially selected in USA Film Festival, Atlantic Film Festival and showcased on "Shameless Short" and "CFC Retrospective".
