Empowering the World's Documentarians

Jiayan "Jenny" Shi

(she/her)

Director/producer/videographer

Chicago, Illinois US

Available for Freelance

Open To Mentoring

Open To Virtual Coffee

About

Jiayan "Jenny" Shi is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and video journalist who is passionate about stories that find shared humanity and compassion. Her debut documentary "Finding Yingying" (MTV Documentary Films) has won numerous awards including the Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Voice at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival and a China Academy Award of Documentary Films, and was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy award. Jenny's work has appeared on Paramount +, MTV, BBC News, PBS NewsHour, Insider, and Bilibili. She has also contributed to work on Netflix, Discovery Channel, Tencent, and Google, among others. Jenny is a graduate of Kartemquin's Diverse Voices In Docs program, a TFI Network alum, a Women at Sundance Adobe fellow, a Logan Nonfiction Program fellow, and a DOC NYC "40 Under 40" filmmaker. Jenny is the co-founder and programming director of the Chicago chapter of the Video Consortium where she curates films and organizes community events for non-fiction storytellers.

Featured Work

Finding Yingying

Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old Chinese student, comes to the U.S. to study. In her detailed and beautiful diaries, the aspiring young scientist and teacher is full of optimism, hoping to also be married and a mother someday. Within weeks of her arrival, Yingying disappears from the campus. Through exclusive access to Yingying’s family and boyfriend, Finding Yingying closely follows their journey as they search to unravel the mystery of her disappearance and seek justice for their daughter while navigating a strange, foreign country. But most of all, Finding Yingying is the story of who Yingying was: a talented young woman loved by her family and friends.

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