About & Contact

About

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Lei Lei

Lei Lei, 1985 born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China. is an artist, filmmaker and researcher currently based in Beijing, China & Los Angeles, California, USA


Education

  • 2009 MFA Art & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

  • 2007 BFA Art & Design,, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Fellowships

  • 2015 Cai fellowship of Asian cultural council grants, New York, USA

  • 2018 Academy Member for the Short Films and Feature Animation branch, New York, USA

Prizes & Grants

  • 2010 Awarded The Best Narrative Short 2010 on Ottawa International Animation Festival

  • 2013 Awarded The Grand Prix shorts - non-narrative on Holland International Animation Film Festival

  • 2013 Winner of the Special Mentions of the Jury on 12th Countryside Animafest

  • 2013 Awarded The Nenarativní animace on 12th Anifest International Animation Festival

  • 2014 Awarded of the Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2014

  • 2014 Laureate of the Asian Cultural Council Grant 2014

  • 2014 Awarded with the Special Mention of the Program Director (Michal Bobrowski) on 4th StopTrik IFF in Maribor

  • 2014 Awarded The Best Experimental at TOFUZI 2014 Festival.

  • 2015 Awarded Best Animated Short Film in Fantasia Film Festival.

  • 2015 Awarded "Silver Dove" in International Short Film Competition at DOK Leipzig 2015

  • 2016 Awarded "Jury Award of Recognition" at Transilvania Shorts 2016

    2016 Awarded "WTF Award" in 10th Flatpack Film Festival 2016

  • 2016 Awarded Best Animation Film at Black Sea Film Festival 2016

  • 2016 Awarded Jury Award of Recognition in Transilvania Shorts 2016

  • 2017 Awarded Wouter Barendrecht Award at IFFR Cinemart

  • 2018 Awarded Best Music Video at Anifilm International Animation Festival 2018

  • 2018 Video Installation Weekend was the winner of the Jimei x Arles discovery award 2018, Xiamen, China

  • 2019 Awarded Grand Prix Images Vevey - Special Jury Prize, Switzerland

  • 2019 Awarded Best Medium Length Documentary at Cinema Verite, Iran

  • 2022 Awarded Best Animated Film at Anibar International Animation Festival 2022, Kosovo

  • 2022 Winner of the Jury Special Prize at the Anifest Independent Animation Festival in South Korea

  • 2022 Awarded Best Non-Narrative Short Film at Dunhuang International Animation Week 2023, China

  • 2022 Awarded Best Commissioned Project at Dunhuang International Animation Weak 2023, China

  • 2023 Awarded Best Commercial Animated Short Film at LINOLEUM International Animation Festival 2023, Kiev, Ukraine

  • 2024 Awarded Special Jury Prize at Ribalta Experimental Film Festival 2024, Italy

Events, Talks and Presentations

  • 2010 Speech in UCCA Beijing <Animation is easy>

  • 2011 Workshop in TED*BLCU <One person's animation studio>
2011 Speech in UCCA Beijing < One person's animation studio>

  • 2012 Heartstrings talkshow at Holland International animation film fesitlval. Holland
2012 Speech in TED@Shanghai: < One person's animation studio >, China

  • 2012 Presentation and film screening at cinema d'animation de Quebec, Canada

  • 2013 Presentation and film screening at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, The USA

  • 2014 Presentation and film screening <Recycled >at UCCA, Beijing, Chin

  • 2015 Presentation and film screening at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, The USA

  • 2015 Presentation and film screening at Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan

  • 2015 Presentation and film screening at Hao Space, Beijing, China

  • 2017 Speech at TOP Museum, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2017 Presentation and film screening: Ecstatic Truth symposium at RCA, London, UK

  • 2017 Presentation and film screening < Coming Soon > at OCAT, Xi’an, China

  • 2017 Presentation and film screening at Jiangxi Museum. Nanchang, China

  • 2019 Presentation and film screening < Breathless Animals > at Film Society Lincoln Center. New York, The USA

  • 2019 Artist Talk as international review at Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan

  • 2019 Presentation and film screening < Breathless Animals > at ICA. London, UK

  • 2019 Maester class at Ottawa International Animation Festival <Memory Clash>, Canada

  • 2020 Artist Talk < Films and Natural Processes > at Logan Center for the Arts University of Chicago. The USA

  • 2020 Presentation and film screening < Memory Clash > at Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha, China

  • 2022 Presentation and film screening <Recycled >at the Crossing Signals: Animation as Documentary Form

  • 2022 Participated in the World Animation Day at the French Cultural Center in Beijing, China, as a guest of "Louis of Winter" on October 28th. Beijing, China

  • 2022 Winners of the Gen.T Asian New Generation Artists List.

  • 2023 Presentation and film screening at Alternative Cinema Lecture on Cinematic Art, Colgate University, USA

  • 2023 Presentation and film screening at Digicon6 Asia Awards Ceremony, Hong Kong, China

  • 2023 Selected for the China Academy of Art's Young Scholars Forum for the paper < Voice over in the film >, Hangzhou, China

Artist Residencies:

  • 2009 Artist Residencies at the Lijiang Studio, Yunnan, China. 


  • 2012 Artist Residencies at La Bande Video, Quebec, Canada


  • 2013 Artist Residencies at Macdowell Colony, The USA


  • 2013 Artist Residencies at Yaddo, The USA


  • 2014 Winner of ACC Cai Fellowship, NYC, The USA


  • 2014 Artist Residency Program at The Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China.

  • 2015 Artist Residency Program at Abbaye de Fontevraud,France


  • 2015 Artist Residency Program at VIS Vienna Independent Shorts 2015, Austral

  • 2016 Locarno Filmmakers Academy

  • 2016-
2017 Artist Residencies at Macdowell Colony, The USA

  • 2022 Shanghai UCCA Ran Ran Artist Residency Program, Shanghai, China

  • 2023 Chengdu a4 Art Museum Artist Residency Program, Chengdu, China

  • 2024 Berlinale Talents, Berlin, Germany

Miscellaneous Activities

  • Jury member of the International Animation Festival in Sagolab, 2014.

  • Jury member, Netherlands International Animation Festival, 2014

  • Jury member, Taichung Animation Film Festival, Taiwan, China, 2016.

  • Jury member of the Oscars for Animated Shorts and Feature Films, 2018.

  • Jury, Washington Chinese Film Festival, 2018

  • Jury member of Ottawa International Animation Festival, 2019.

  • Jury member of the Super Short Film Section of Xining FIRST Film Festival in 2022

  • 2022 Jury member of the 4th 1839 Photography Award Review

  • Jury member of the Final Review of Beijing Fernandes Animation Week in 2023.

  • 2023 Guest of Honor and Jury Member, Digicon6 Digital Awards, Hong Kong, China

  • 2024 Jury Member, International Competition, Beijing Independent Short Film Festival

 

Chinese artist, filmmaker and musician, Lei Lei, creates (or recreates in Recycled and Hand Coloured #2 environments that often fuse magic realism, science-fiction, comic books and video games into visually delicious, handmade, candy-coloured worlds that are naïve, hopeful, nostalgic and occasionally silly in the belief that love can liberate us all.

Throughout his work, Lei Lei lovingly celebrates the marginalized, misunderstood and forgotten, resuscitating them with a new air of hope, purpose and humanity.

—Chris Robinson