MFA Candidate
Research Interests:
Asian American Cinema, immigrant life, history, cultural conflicts, women's rights, public safety.
Email:
Education and Training:
B.A., UC Berkeley
Biography:
Jiayi Li is a Chinese-American documentary filmmaker based in San Francisco. She holds a BA in Film from UC Berkeley, an additional AA in Cinema Production from City College of San Francisco, and participated in the Bay Area Video Coalition’s Emerging Media Maker Program. Fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Taishanese, Jiayi has worked as a reporter for Sky Link TV, producing, filming, and editing stories covering politics, violence, economics, and the Asian American community in the Bay Area. Notably, her documentary "Far East Café: One of S.F. Chinatown’s Oldest Restaurants Slated to Close after 100 Years During the Pandemic" received the 2020 California Ethnic Media Award. As a film director, videographer, and editor, her recent work, Walking in the Dream, an autobiographical piece, delving into the journey of a Chinese immigrant girl transitioning into adulthood, was showcased at Roxie Theater and won the Best Experimental Film Award at the 2022 City Short Student Film Festival. Additionally, she has worked with the community leaders, Gordon Chin and Norman Fong at Chinatown Community Development Center to direct three series of short historical documentaries contributing significantly to the preservation of San Francisco Chinatown's rich history.