Yi Cui is a Chinese filmmaker who works between her homeland and North America. Her practice embraces a process-driven methodology, allowing her to explore the intersections of diverse cinematic forms. She has developed a body of work centred on the theme of ‘Migrating Cinema,’ delving into the connections between Indigenous cinema, auto-ethnography, traveling film projection, and ancient screen arts such as the shadow theatre.
Her work has received accolades, including the Grand Prize at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the Libraries’ Award at Cinéma du Réel, the Best Short Film Award from the American Anthropological Association’s Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival. Several of Yi’s films have been screened at exhibitions and festivals worldwide, including the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Images Festival, Viennale International Film Festival, Short Film Week Regensburg, Message to Man, and Iran International Documentary Film Festival Cinéma Vérité, among others. Yi was a Flaherty Seminar Fellow in 2024. She currently teaches at Colgate University in New York state, USA.
Since 2013, Yi has been working with communities in Eastern Tibet, facilitating the creation of films by herdsmen, monks, and young students. Reflecting on her experiences living and working within these Tibetan communities, Yi created the experimental non-fiction film ‘To Alexandra,’ which represents a collaborative effort between herself and local Tibetan filmmakers.