Lyuwei Chen

Born in Zhejiang, China, Lyuwei Chen is a documentary filmmaker, the winner of the 50th Student Academy Award for Documentary, and the winner of 12th New York Shorts International Film Festival. Chen graduated from the Communication University of China with a bachelor's degree in Directing and Editing (Music Editing) and a master's degree in Musicology (For Film, TV, and Radio) and then came to the U.S. to earn a master's Degree in Documentary at New York University. At NYU, she created the documentary "Steel Magnolia" (2022), portraying how actress Heather Litteer regains her voice after being stereotyped because of her salacious role in the film "Requiem For A Dream" (2000). "Praying Mantis" (2022) was Chen's subsequent film, a documentary reflecting on the immigrant story and cultural identity preservation, centering on the metaphor of martial artist Tony Chuy's technique of "Praying Mantis." Chen follows this film with the music documentary "Duet," a parallel intergenerational story about two musicians: Chinese-American composer, conductor, and pianist Bright Sheng and his 12-year-old extremely talented pianist daughter Fay Fay.