Bing Liu (filmmaker): Difference between revisions

Liu was born in China.<ref name="vulture-021919" /> His family moved to the United States when he was five and soon after his parents got divorced.<ref name="ChiTrib-081518">{{cite web |last1=Metz |first1=Nina |title=A conversation with Bing Liu about his documentary 'Minding the Gap' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-mov-bing-liu-interview-minding-the-gap-0817-story.html |website=Chicago Tribune |date=August 15, 2018 |accessdate=19 February 2019}}</ref> Liu obtained American citizenship when he was 14 years old after his mother moved him to [[Rockford, Illinois|Rockford]], [[Illinois]] and remarried. She had one son with his stepfather, a white American man. His stepfather was physically and mentally abusive, once shooting a gun at his mother.<ref name="vulture-021919" /> He referred to Liu and his brother and mother using racial slurs and subjected them to various types of abuse.<ref name="vulture-021919" /> Liu stated that he is no longer fluent in Mandarin as he once was because his stepfather did not let him and his mother communicate with each other using the language.<ref name="vulture-021919" />

He attended community college at [[Rock Valley College]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wifr.com/content/news/Rock-Valley-Professor-on-Bing-Liu-He-was-always-working-504824972.html|date=January 24, 2019 |title=Rock Valley professor on Bing Liu: 'He was always working'|website=[[WIFR]] |access-date=2019-02-20}}</ref> Liu left Rockford when he was 19<ref name=":0" /> and then attended [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] where he majored in literature.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-ae-movies-coty-1230-story.html|title=Chicagoan of the Year: Bing Liu, Rockford filmmaker could make a splash at the Oscars|last=Phillips|first=Michael|website=chicagotribune.com|date=December 27, 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iua.org/2019/04/03/for-academy-award-nominated-director-uic-was-the-launch-pad/ |work=International University Alliance |title=For Academy Award-nominated director, 'UIC was the launch pad' |first=Alin |last=Istrate |date=April 3, 2019 }}</ref>

His 2018 documentary film ''[[Minding the Gap]]'' was developed with Kartemquin Films. The film centered on himself and two other young men who were skateboarders in their hometown of [[Rockford, Illinois|Rockford]], [[Illinois]]. The footage was shot over 12 years, beginning when Liu was 14, though it was only in his early 20s that he decided to make the documentary.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/minding-gap-director-looks-chicago-prison-next-projects-1185446 |date=2019-02-16 |first=Jewel |last=Wicker|title='Minding the Gap' Director Looks to Chicago Prison and Millennial Relationships for Next Projects|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en|access-date=2019-02-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite webmagazine|url=https://time.com/5374807/minding-the-gap-documentary-interview/ |date=September 11, 2018 |first=Cady |last=Lang|title=Minding the Gap Director Discusses His Buzzy Hulu Documentary|websitemagazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=2019-02-20}}</ref> Liu is both a director and the subject of the film as he often speaks to his subjects from off camera.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/summer-movies/2018/8/17/17705484/minding-the-gap-interview-bing-liu-domestic-abuse-rockford-hulu|title=How Minding the Gap went from skateboard documentary to a raw look at domestic abuse|last=Wilkinson|first=Alissa |date=August 17, 2018 |website=Vox|access-date=2019-02-19}}</ref> The film deals heavily with domestic violence and toxic masculinity. It is the first feature film that he directed.,<ref name=":2" /> and it was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.

His second documentary feature, ''All These Sons'', which focuses on gun violence in Chicago as it follows two Chicago-area programs targeting at-risk young men, was co-directed with Joshua Altman and premiered at the 2021 [[Tribeca Film festival|Tribeca Film Festival]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fienberg |first1=Daniel |title=‘All'All These Sons’Sons': Film Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/all-these-sons-1234967134/ |access-date=19 July 2022 |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter |date=12 June 2021}}</ref> where Liu and Altman won the jury award for Best Cinematography, Documentary Feature.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lattanzio |first1=Ryan |title=Tribeca Festival Unveils 2021 Jury Award Winners |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2021/06/tribeca-film-festival-2021-award-winners-1234645333/ |access-date=19 July 2022 |publisher=Indiewire |date=17 June 2021}}</ref>

On [[A24]]'s podcast, [[Ocean Vuong]] revealed Liu would be adapting Vuong's novel ''[[On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous]]'' into a feature film withfor [[A24]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=All The Ways To Be with Bryan Washington & Ocean Vuong|url=https://a24films.com/notes/2020/12/all-the-ways-to-be-with-bryan-washington-ocean-vuong|access-date=2021-01-03|website=a24films.com|date=December 21, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>