Chongyan Liu

CHONGYAN LIU is a Chinese artistfilmmaker living and studying in Paris. She was born in Guizhou, China, in 1995. She graduated from CAFA: Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, and is now pursuing her master's degree at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, France. Chongyan is an artist trained in various artistic disciplines: documentary and fiction filmmaking, video art installation, painting, and sculpture.

Her work has been presented in many film festivals across Europe (The 10th edition of VISIO—European Programme on Artist's Moving Images, LES YEUX OUVERTS Festival, Création Jeune Cinéma Différent Festival).

Thematically, her oeuvre tackles various political and sociological topics, including socio-economic inequality and intersectionality. She draws from her personal experiences while maintaining an objective approach; which is always supported by the relevant research. She has worked on a multitude of video artexperimental documentary pieces before writing & directing two short-fiction films ("The Harryian Theory" and "A Crisis").

Chongyan is currently working on the post-production of the latter, as well as developing a feature-length project entitled "l'Élégie für a Friend". In addition, her forthcoming graduation show will focus on the overlapping nature of video art and film, with hopes of continuing to combine these mediums of Moving Image well into the future. Chongyan's multidisciplinary approach to filmmaking ensures that her work constantly challenges the pre-conceived notions of the practice. Furthermore, she is never interested in filmmaking solely from a narrative standpoint.

You could be fooled into thinking you are staring at a painting—rather than a still frame—if you happen to press the pause button, as she holds on to her compositions deliberately, encouraging all viewers to analyse the mise-en-scène.

The previously mentioned "l'Élégie für a Friend" is in early pre-production and deals with the delicate subject of the suicide of a trans-woman, to whom Chongyan was a friend.