Ann Hu
Ann Hu is a Chinese-American filmmaker whose feature debut Shadow Magic (2000) brought her international recognition. Born in China and a child during the Cultural Revolution, she was among the earliest mainland Chinese students to come to the United States after Mao's era, arriving in 1979 and earning a business degree from New York University before building a career as an entrepreneur. She returned to NYU in 1992 to study film and made her first narrative short, Dream and Memory, in 1994. Shadow Magic — a historical drama about the introduction of motion pictures to Beijing in the early 20th century, co-produced by Chinese, Taiwanese, German, and American partners — premiered at Sundance, was released by Sony Pictures Classics, and won the Chinese Academy Award for Best Film. She is now an American citizen.