Yi Chen Studios

Yi Chen is an award-winning filmmaker currently residing in Washington, DC. Yi received her MA in Film and Video from American University’s School of Communication. During graduate school, she produced a 16mm short film, FL 324 (2008), which debut at the DC Independent Film Festival. The premier brought attention to the film and filmmaker in the Washington Post, Washington Blade, Express, American Today, Asian Fortune and many others. The success among critics and at the box office later brought her a Silver Peer at the 2008 TIVA-DC Peer Awards. The film won the Outstanding Narrative Production Short and Outstanding Editing categories at American University’s Visions Festival. It was also selected at the Heritage Film Festival, Falls Church Film Festival and Our City Film Festival, where the film was awarded Best Narrative Short. In all, the film collected five national awards and was selected for six major film festivals.

Yi’s studies in literature, history and philosophy have given her a wider perspective to view the diverse topics her work deals with, from a docudrama about China's First Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, to a public service announcement for an anti-malaria campaign, to a museum multimedia piece about the creation of an historic 18th-century dessert table. Her work has appeared on the History Channel, Public Broadcasting Service, MIT Tech TV, and many other outlets. The Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, the United Nations Foundation, and the American University are among some of her clients. She has also taken photos of high-profile public figures for nonprofit organizations.

Yi was originally drawn to the craft of visual storytelling as a film critic and she continues her passion through research on traditional, integrated, and emerging media. She spoke about raising public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world at the 5th Media in Transition International Conference at MIT. She has also spoken about conformity and rebellion in Asian and European Films at the Goethe Institute.

When she is not on assignment, Yi spends her time perfecting her tango steps, practicing Iyengar yoga, and studying Buddhism teachings.