Dante Jiayu Liu

Born in Changsha, Hunan, a city deep inside mainland China. Dante's life was unexpectedly influenced by world cultures. At age 14, he was sent to Oregon for his high school education. After university Dante started his internship in the North American office of Huace Film. He was later accepted to American Film Institute and is currently studying in its directing program. Dante believes that directing is a very selfish form of art. The job of a director is to hide his ideas in moments of life, expressing them through the mixture of light, shadow, and sound. In the end, the audience should grasp the message not only from the words but also from the emotions that are hidden in the visual of the director. To Dante, the art of directing is simple yet complex, and only effective when it is sincere at the root of its nature. Dante’s film has been nominated and screened over the world at festivals such as FIRST Chinese independent film festival; Brooklyn Film Festival; Maryland Film Festival.