Yehui Zhao is an award-winning filmmaker and artist whose work explores decolonization, transgression, heritage, and regeneration. Her work takes root in the feminist legacies of the global south, drawing inspiration from revolutionary praxis, womanhood and daughtership, and collective grassroots memory. Yehui’s debut feature documentary May the Soil Be Everywhere premiered at True/False film festival and received a Special Mention Jury Award at DokuFest. Her films have been featured at DOC NYC, UnionDocs, Prismatic Ground, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Asian American International Film Festival, and other programs. Yehui has published paintings, prints, and writing at Brooklyn Rail, Brooklyn Review and Action, Spectacle. She is a recipient of the IDA Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts grant, and the York Women in Film and Television Scholarship. Yehui holds an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College and a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University. She teaches film, media arts, and performance art as an adjunct professor in New York City.

say hi: yehuizhao0320@gmail.com

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press/interview

From Soil to Soil: Chinese filmmaker charts her family’s rise from harsh rural roots, South China Morning Post, 2024 Read the print version here

Screenings and Selections

2026

The People’s Forum Robeson Cinema, New York, NY

2025

抵抗Resist (November 2025 - March 2026), Chongqing Contemporary Art Museum, Chongqing, China

Dokufest 2025, Special Mention Jury Award, Green Dox Competition, Prizren, Kosovo

Kansas Underground Film Festival, Kansas City, Missouri

BAM Film 2025, Brooklyn, BAM

Prismatic Ground Year Five, co-presented with Brooklyn Academy of Music & UnionDocs - Center for Documentary Art, Brooklyn, New York

True/False Film Festival 2025, Columbia, Missouri

2024

UNDO Spotlight: A Showcase of Supported Projects, UnionDocs, Queens, NY

Hei’er, 205 Hudson Gallery Space, Hunter College

2023

To You, Spectacle Theater, curated by Everybody Press, Brooklyn, NY

Hei’er, NYWIFT Member Screening Showcase at the SOHO International Film Festival, Village East by Angelika, New York, NY

Hei’er, UnionDocs, Queens, NY

Xun, UnionDocs, Queens, NY

To You, UnionDocs, Queens, NY

Xi Jiao Gou (work-in-progress), UnionDocs, Queens, NY

Ride Home (performance), Rubin Museum of Art with Brooklyn Rail, New York, NY

2022

Hei’er, *Finalist, International Moving Film Festival, New York, NY

To Grandma, *Honorable Mention, Splice Film Festival, Brooklyn, New York

Hei’er, DOC NYC, New York, NY

Hei’er, Prismatic Ground, New York, NY

Hei’er, Sipontum Arthouse International Film Festival

Heier, Toronto International Women Film Festival, Toronto, Canada

Hei’er, Amsterdam Short Film Festival, Amsterdam

To Grandma, Festival of Animated Objects, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

2021

Lin Hei’er, Documenting histories, Asia, Asian-America, Hunter College, New York, NY

To You, Timeless Awards, Wrocław, Poland

To You (semi-finalist), International Moving Film Festival, Abadan, Iran

To You, Spain Moving Images Festival, Madrid, Spain

The Death of Memories, Darkroom Film Festival, London, EN

To You, Prague International Indie Film Festival, Prague, Czech Republic

A Walk between Brownsville and Prospect Heights, Zen Center of New York City, Brooklyn, NY

2020

Xun, 43rd Asian American Film Festival, New York, NY

Xun, Across the Universe, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Xun, Integrated Channels Exhibition, Hunter College, New York, NY

Decolonizing Wealth, People’s Forum, New York, NY

Small Business Survival Forum, Community Board 12, New York, NY

Awards and Scholarships

IDA Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund

New York State Council on the Arts 2024 Artist Grant

New York Women in Film & Television 2023 Scholarship

Firecracker Award: Best Debut Magazine - 128 Lit (role: Co-founder & Art Director)

Painting/prints/writing Publications

A Troupe of Twenty-Four Images Marches”: An Interview with Lynne Sachs, 128 LIT, Brooklyn, NY

My Women (cover art & layout design), 128 LIT, Brooklyn, NY

Kong Hou (cover art), 128 LIT, Brooklyn, NY

Ride Home, Brooklyn Rail, Brooklyn, NY

Geophyte, Ligeia Magazine, Baltimore, Maryland

Childhood Home, Ligeia Magazine, Baltimore, Maryland

Fall, Brooklyn Review, Brooklyn, NY

Mirage, Action, Spectacle, Brooklyn, NY