Keith Qi Chen

Keith Qi Chen (Keith Qixi Chen, Qifei Chen) was born in China and moved to New York at the age of 13, where he began his journey in the film industry, pursuing a career in both the United States and China. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts (Cinematography) from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Later, he went on to complete his Master’s Degree in Fine Arts (Film Directing) at the Beijing Film Academy, where he had the privilege of studying under Zhuang Zhuang Tian, and Keming Hou.

In 2003, he received a Best Cinematography nomination for ‘Overture’ (directed by Christopher Wedding) at the Dusty Film Festival. In 2004, he was nominated for Best Actor for his role in ‘Chinese Dream’ (directed by Victor Quinaz) at the Rome International Film Festival in Georgia. His work on this film also led to a short-listing for the Academy Awards in 2005. ‘Chinese Dream’ garnered significant attention, having been showcased in over 50 film festivals worldwide and earning four Best Narrative Short awards, including the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Keith’s talents extend to editing, having worked on the documentary ‘Little Shaolin Monks’ in 2005 for director Haibin Bai. The documentary was released in the USA in 2007. In the same year, Keith served as an assistant director in pre-production for John Woo’s ‘Red Cliff.’ The film he directed, ‘Not Bad, Boy,’ was officially selected at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2007.

Throughout his career, Keith has showcased his versatility. He served as the cinematographer for Larry Yang’s (Zi Yang) first feature film, ‘Return,’ which was released on CCTV6 in China. He co-directed and edited the short film ‘Audition,’ directed by Celine Li, which won the Best Ensemble Cast award at the Asian On Film Festival in 2014.

In 2015, Keith was invited to Sichuan, China, to serve as the director of photography for ‘Once Upon a Time in Sichuan,’ directed by Louis Z. Deng (Zifei Deng). The film was released on Tencent in 2016. Keith directed feature film ‘When He Comes Back,’ and short film ‘Mosaic’ received numerous awards at international film festivals in 2022-2023.

Keith lives in both Seattle and Los Angeles, where he continues to explore and express his creativity. He hopes to adapt many of his ideas into movies or shows that will entertain and touch audiences worldwide.