Xueni Yang is a filmmaker and movement-based performer working across cinema and dance. Born in Beijing, having spent her formative years in the United States, and currently based in Prague, she creates work that centers on characters navigating displacement, intimacy, and quiet transformation. She holds an MFA in Film Directing from FAMU in Prague and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
In 2024, her graduation short film “Fir” was nominated for the Czech Lion Award for Best Student Film and screened internationally at Reel Sisters in New York and the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image in Frankfurt. Her project “The Last Day of July” was a semi-finalist at the 2025 BlueCat Screenplay Competition. That same year, she received the NIPAI (New International Performing Arts Institute) Assistantship Scholarship for her work as a movement director, choreographer, and performer. In 2026, her outdoor video installation Threshold was shortlisted at La Nature Festival in Belgium, and she served as a jury member for the Women’s Voices Now Film Festival. Her auteur works—“Fishbowl” (2019), “Hush” (2022), and “Fir” (2024)—are curated and streaming on Giloo.
MAJOR RECOGNITION & AWARDS
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2026 | La Nature Festival (Belgium) – Shortlisted Artist (Outdoor Video Installation: Threshold)
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2025 | BlueCat Screenplay Competition – Semifinalist (for The Last Day of July - In Development)
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2024 | Český lev (Czech Lion Awards) – Best Student Film Nomination (for Fir)
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2024 | Golden Horse Film Academy (Taiwan) – Shortlisted Director
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2022 | Golden Horse Film Academy (Taiwan) – Shortlisted Director
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2021 | ARFF Amsterdam International Awards – Best Student Film Award (for Fishbowl)
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
FIR (2024)
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Český lev (Czech Lion Awards) – Best Student Film Nomination (2024)
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B3 Biennial of the Moving Image (Germany) – Official Selection (Moving Image Art Biennale, 2024)
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Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) – Semifinalist (2024)
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Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival – Official Selection (2024)
HUSH (2022)
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Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) – Semifinalist (2022)
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FEST - New Directors New Films Festival – Official Selection (NEXXT Competition, 2022)
FISHBOWL (2020/2021)
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Around International Film Festival (ARFF) Amsterdam – Best Student Film Award (2021)
MOVEMENT & SITE-SPECIFIC PRACTICE
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2026 | La Nature Festival (Belgium) – Shortlisted Artist (Outdoor Video Installation: Threshold)
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2025 | Assistantship Scholarship Recipient – NIPAI (New International Performing Arts Institute)
SELECTED ACTING CREDITS
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2025 | FILM/TV – Resident Evil (Constantin Film)
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2024 | FILM/TV – Blade Runner 2099 (Amazon Studios)
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2023 - 2024 | COMMERCIALS – Samsung, Fujifilm (International Campaigns)
EDUCATION
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2018 - 2023 | M.F.A. in Film Directing – FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), Czech Republic
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2014 - 2018 | B.A. in Filmmaking and Performing Arts – Sarah Lawrence College, USA
