If you looked at her or her body of work, which includes several award-winning and highly praised films, you really wouldn’t guess that she has only recently graduated with an MFA in film from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. Well, she did and before that she was attending one of the best universities in Shanghai, Tongji University, where she was studying Communication Engineering.
This talented writer, producer, cinematographer and director now has an established reputation as being a prolific and quite successful filmmaker in Los Angeles as she continues to pump out more high quality music screenplays and films. She and her films have appeared at some very prestigious film festivals, such as The New York Los Angeles International Film Festival and the California Women’s Film Festival with her film, The Greatest Gift, the Savannah Film Festival, Oceanside International Film Festival, Independent Filmmakers Showcase and the California International Shorts Film Festival with her film He and Rock & Roll.
Yilei has always loved films and the concept of telling a story from behind a camera. Besides the writing of the script and story, Yilei also loves the technical aspects of filmmaking. While she was working on a degree in engineering she would sit in on film classes even when non-film students (like her) were not allowed. When the teachers finally realized that Yilei was serious about learning how to make movies, they relented and allowed her to attend the classes. This was all in her spare time so anyone who would do that must love filmmaking.
She did learn how to make films and she learned very well because all of her work reaches professional standards and her directing and writing hit the mark each time. Yilei’s film One Two was very interesting and it was her first movie. She filmed it in China and used all her friends to help her make it. She wrote it and directed it. She also filmed it and produced it, which means she is a good communicator along with a terrific leader and organizer, which, of course, are just other words for producer and director.
Yilei has several projects lined up in 2017 including writing a screenplay of a feature film that is going to be shot in LA in 2017, called Lost Angels. She is also writing even more to fill out the next couple of years. We are excited to see what she does next.
