Yi Cui

Assistant Professor of Art

Department/Office Information

Art

306 Little Hall

Contact

ycui1@colgate.edu (315) 228-6048

As a filmmaker, I refrain from defining my work as representing a certain genre. Instead, I allow a leitmotif to develop freely, and to guide me as I look for an articulate formal expression. The search for the rhythm and poetics that are unique to the cinematic medium is a recurring theme in my practice.

I am interested in weaving this formal pursuit into works that engage with pressing cultural and social questions. In my film Of Shadows, for example, I intertwined two narrative lines to juxtapose urban spectacles with grassroots traditions, provoking viewers to encounter the profound dilemma faced by individuals situated between contemporary reality and the traditional past. Underneath the narrative structure, I worked to create a continuous rhythmic flow, which is essential for the film's emotional engagement with the viewers.

The open process of my work allows me to deploy the cinematic medium as a tool to study, to understand, and to embrace the time-space I encounter. Inspired by great filmmakers, such as Ogawa Shinsuke, I make it a principle not to impose the time-space of a preconceived structure on what surrounds me on the ground. Instead, I first immerse myself in a place and the rhythms of local life. My creative process emerges out of such experience and thus evolves intertwined with my relationship to the place and the people.

Since 2013, I have been working with communities in Eastern Tibet, facilitating the creation of films by herdsmen, monks, and young students. Reflecting on this experiences living and working within these Tibetan communities, I have created the experimental non-fiction film ‘To Alexandra,’ which represents a collaborative effort between myself and local Tibetan filmmakers.

MFA, Film and Video, York University, Toronto, Canada

MS, Ecology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

BS, Ecology, 北京大學 (Peking University), Beijing, China

School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver

Programme of Film Production, Jigme Gyaltsen School, Tibet

2024 Flaherty Film Seminar Fellow, Salaya, Thailand
2024 Canada Council For the Arts, Concept to Realization Grant
2023 Oberhausen Seminar Fellow, Oberhausen, Germany
2023 Canada Council For the Arts, Professional Development Gran
2020 Explore and Create Grant, Canada Council For the Arts
2019 Best Short Film Award, American Society for Visual Anthropology
2018 Kinokneipen-Preis Audience Award nominee, 24th International Short Film Week Regensburg, Germany
2017 Outstanding Teacher Award, Jigme Gyaltsen School, Tibet
2017 Grand Prize, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany
2017 Bois d'Arcy Prisoners’ Award, Cinéma du Réel, Paris, France
2017 Special Mention of the Jury, Festival Cinemistica, Granada, Spain
2016 Production Grant for Media Artist, Canada Council For the Arts
2016 Libraries Award, Cinéma du Réel (As the awarded work, Of Shadows was selected for inclusion in the audio visual collection at the public library of Centre Pompidou), Paris, France
2016 Bright Future Award nominee, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Netherlands
2016 Chinese Documentary Award nominee, Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 Best Canadian Documentary Award nominee, DOXA International Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada
2015 Award to Media Artist, Toronto Arts Council
2015 Media Artist Grant, Ontario Arts Council
2013 MIDA Production Grant, Jury Award, Shanghai, China
2013 Grant to Film and Media Artist, Canada Council For the Arts

2024 MODO Visual Anthropology Screening Series, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
2023 VSW Salon, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, USA
2022 Mapping Entanglements Online Media Exhibition, Finger Lake Environmental Film Festival, Ithaca, USA
2021 The Contest over “Indigeneity”: Film and Ethnography in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Center for Experimental Ethnography, University of Pennsylvania, USA
2020 Film of the Day Programme, This Is Short Film Festival, The European Short Film Network
2020 Screenings of Chinese Documentary Films, University of Torino, Torin, Italy
2019 American Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Vancouver, Canada
2019 Athens International Film and Video Festival, Athens, USA
2019 Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, Nepal
2019 In the Mood for Chinese Cinema – A Showcase of Contemporary Chinese Cinema, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2018 24th International Short Film Week Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
2018 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, Minneapolis, USA
2018 Busan International Short Film Festival, Curtain Call Section, Busan, South Korea
2018 European Film Festival, Moscow, Russia
2018 Film Festival della Lessinia, Bosco Chiesa Nuova, Italy
2017 Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival, Main Program, Vienna, Austria
2017 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany
2017 Foradcamp Cinema and Nature Exhibition, Barcelona, Spain
2017 Awarded Film Rerun, The Civil Society of Multimedia Authors (La Scam), Paris, France
2017 Cinéme du Réel, Paris, France
2017 26^th Edition of Festival Côté Court, Pantin, France
2017 UNDERDOX Film Festival, Munich, Germany
2017 Cinemaforum Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland
2017 Festival Cinemistica, Granada, Spain
2017 Film Festival Message to Man, International Competition, St. Petersburg, Russia
2017 Cinéma Vérité, “Mirror of Festival” Program, Tehran, Iran
2017 “Meet the Director” Independent Film Series, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong
2017 Festival of Film Festival, Seoul, South Korea
2017 San Diego Asian Film Festival, San Diego, USA
2017 Los Angeles Chinese Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA
2016 The Free Screen/Wavelength, TIFF Cinematheque, Toronto, Canada
2016 Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2016 Cinéme du Réel, Paris, France
2016 EBS International Documentary Festival, Seoul, South Korea
2016 Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 DOXA International Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada
2016 Chinese Film Festival, La Rochelle, France
2016 Comptoir du Doc Film Festival, Rennes, France
2016 Lima Independent International Film Festival, Lima, Peru
2016 Film Presentation at Visual Anthropology and Contemporary Chinese Culture Forum, Beijing, China
2013 Images Festival, Toronto, Canada
2013 Australia International Experimental Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia
2013 Seoul International NewMedia Festival (NeMaF), Seoul, South Korea

2023 Zimmermann, Patricia. “The Migrating Documentary Cinema of Yi Cui”. The Edge.
2020 Holsgens, Sander. “The Porosity of Film: A Review of Yi Cui’s Of Shadows”. Visual and New Media Review.
2017 Gray, Carmen. “Ten of the Best Short Films of the Year So Far”. AnOther