Chi Jang Yin


Chi Jang Yin is an American filmmaker, photographer, curator and educator. She is best known for her experimental films that explore displacement, alienation, the absence of representation, and narrative memory. Her research methodology focuses on intersectionality, information literacy, and how digitalization of the arts and humanities can be a form of advocacy. In 2020, she was named the 2020-2021 Presidential Faculty Fellow at DePaul University. Yin is a trained facilitator at The National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum, founded by Peggy McIntosh and has received certifications in conflict resolution from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Early life

When Yin was 5 years old, her family left China in the latter part of The Cultural Revolution. Her mother, an artist from an aristocratic family, first led the family to Taiwan, and then to Canada.

Career

Yin received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied with Yvonne Rainer and Shellie Fleming. Yin is a tenured full professor and the Chair of Film Production Program at The School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University. Yin has offered a Master Class at FAMU, The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. Previously, she was the Head of Media Art at the Department of Art, Media, and Design at DePaul University.

Experimental film

Chi Jang Yin's experimental films have been featured at numerous galleries, museums, and film festivals including the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Germany, The Odense International Film Festival, Denmark, The Uppsala International Film Festival, Sweden, The Chicago International Film Festival, The Los Angeles Film Festival, The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in the Netherlands, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kassel Documentary Film Festival in Germany, European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrouck, Germany, Braunschweig International Film Festival, Germany The BWA Contemporary Art Gallery in Katowice, Poland, The Phoenix Art Museum, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Gene Siskel Film Center, and The Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley.

Awards and filmography

Another Clapping - Best of Film Festival, Thaw International Film and Digital Media Festival, Iowa City, IA. 2003, Best Documentary Short, Georgetown Independent Film Festival, Washington, DC. 2001, Finalist Award, Asian American Film and Video Showcase, Chicago, IL. 2001Untitled Affair - Second Grand Prize Award, Athens International Film Festival, Ohio. 2003Glass House - Best Film on Architecture, Asolo Art Film Festival, Asolo city, Italy. 2007Icon For the Unseen Lighthouse - Distinction Prize Award and Honorable Mention, IN-OUT Festival, the Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Poland. 2009Dark River Hannah and the Crystal Ball Pretend Nothing Happened Come Back to Me 1984–1989–2014 I Was There, Part III I Was There - Premiere at Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival I Was There, Part II - Nominated for the Chicago Award, Chicago International Film Festival, Premiere at The Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Germany

Notable works in public collections

  • Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
  • Nagoya University, Film Library, Japan
  • University of Iowa Library, Iowa City, IA
  • University of Nevada, Reno
  • Film Art Foundation, San Francisco
  • DePaul Art Museum, permanent collection, Chicago
  • Video Data Bank

Curatorial projects

In 2002, sponsored by Chicago Filmmakers, Chi Jang Yin curated a series of ten experimental 16-millimeter films and videos in a program titled When Autobiography Is Not the First Person. In 2010, sponsored by The DePaul Art Museum, she curated a documentary film exhibition that featured Disorder by Huang Weikai.

Photography

Yin's digital photography that explored the work of German Modernist architect, Helmut Bartsch, was featured in LensCulture in 2019.