Born and raised in Beijing, China, Yan Cui started her career in the film industry 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. Yan was a 1994 Director Resident of the prestigious Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Center.For her first feature, 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.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. 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 which was officially selected in USA Film Festival, Atlantic Film Festival and showcased on "Shameless Short" and "CFC Retrospective".Yan's next film 'Double Play,' a mystery thriller set in Lisbon, Portugal, will begin pre-production in the fall, 2009. She's also working on her first Chinese language film in China and will finish shooting by the summer, 2009.
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