Viv Li

Viv Li is a Chinese filmmaker and artist based in Berlin. Born and raised in Beijing, Viv spent the past 15 years living in Europe, South America and Southeast Asia. She holds a master in Directing from DocNomads and a bachelor in Drama and Films from the University of Manchester. Viv also participated in Sundance Institute, Berlinale Talents, Chicken & Egg, IDFAcademy, Pop Up Film Residency and received the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. Her narrative short, Across the Waters, was nominated for the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival and won the Lights On Women’s Worth Award. Her documentary, I Don't Feel At Home Anywhere Anymore, was awarded a Jury Special Mention at IDFA, among 8 other international awards. Currently, she is working on her first feature project in Berlin.

Filmography

2024 Across the Waters
2022 When the Sand Of the Desert Flows Like a River
2020 I Don't Feel At Home Anywhere Anymore

Selected project: "Until We Reached the Purple Gate There Was Nothing"

A year after the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when a rapidly rising economy is seemingly bringing China closer to the world, 19-year-old Chinese student Zetian lands in the UK and enters the University of Manchester, only to find herself parachuted into a culture shock and identity crisis in this foreign land. Struggling to fit in, she grapples with the desire to belong and starts to do things she never thought she would do.