Emily Ting is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She was born in
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
, but later moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
with her family.
Ting graduated from the film/TV program at
NYU
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
’s
Tisch School of the Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
.
Her first feature-length film, ''
Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong'', was released in 2015.
Early life and education
Ting was born in Taipei in 1980, and moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was very young.
After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, she worked in New York for several years. In 2007, she returned to Hong Kong in order to run her family business.
Career
After graduation, Ting worked at the documentary distribution company
Docurama
Docurama is an over-the-top video streaming service in May 2014 by US entertainment company Cineverse that serves documentary films to proprietary software
Proprietary software is software that is deemed within the free and open-source softw ...
in New York for several years,
and later founded her own production company, Unbound Feet Productions.
At the beginning of her career she focused on making documentaries. Her first feature-length documentary, ''What’s Love Got to Do with It?'', premiered in 2002''.''
She also made a documentary short entitled ''Reality Check'' in 2006, which is about college graduates facing unemployment.
When Ting ran her family's business in Hong Kong,she made a documentary about her family business, ''Family Inc'', which was released in 2008. It is a highly personal documentary, following how she gave up her filmmaking dream and returned home to help her father run a big toy manufacturing empire.
''
Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong'' (2015), Ting's first scripted feature, received primarily good reviews and was shown at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and the New York Asian Film Festival.
The movie is partially based on Ting's life and inspired by
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola (; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor Coppola, Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed ...
’s ''
Lost in Translation''. ''Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong'', a
romantic drama
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
, follows a Chinese woman from Los Angeles who makes a business trip to Hong Kong, and has a romance with an American expat.
They visit various parts of the city, from Lan Kwai Fong and Central to Chungking Mansions and Temple Street.
''
Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong'' has been lauded for capturing Hong Kong’s vibrant nightlife.
Ting's next film, ''
Go Back to China'', is about an American heiress who blows through her trust fund, causing her parents to send her to China to work for their toy making business. Ting has stated that this film, like ''Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong'', is also semi-autobiographical.
Filmography
Feature films
Short films
Other credits
Awards
* ''Man From Reno'' Best Narrative Film at
Los Angeles Film Festival
The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...
(2014)
* ''Land Ho!''
John Cassavetes Awards at Film Independent Spirit Awards (2014)
* ''The Distance Between'' Best Short Film at
Omaha Film Festival
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...
(2012)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ting, Emily
Taiwanese women film directors
Taiwanese film producers
Taiwanese screenwriters
Writers from Taipei
American women film directors
American women screenwriters
1980 births
Living people
Film directors from Los Angeles
Film directors from Taipei
Taiwanese emigrants to the United States
21st-century American women