Bing Liu

Bing Liu (born 1989) is a Chinese-American director and cinematographer. He is best known for directing the documentary Minding the Gap, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.

Born in China, he moved from Beijing to Tuskeegee, Alabama at age five, and then lived in Los Angeles before moving to Rockford, Illinois at age eight. In Rockford, Liu spent much time alone at home watching movies, learned to skateboard as an adolescent, and began filming his friends and fellow skaters as a teen. He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Liu was named as United States Artists fellow in 2020, and in 2021, Liu and his co-director Joshua Altman won the jury award for Best Cinematography, Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival for his second documentary, All These Sons.

Early life and education Liu was born in China. By age eight, Liu had lived in Los Angeles and Rockford, Illinois, where he spent much time at home alone, learned English by watching movies including Mortal Kombat, and first started skateboarding. 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. Liu left Rockford when he was 19

Career From 2012, he worked on various film sets, typically doing camera work. Liu is both a director and the subject of the film as he often speaks to his subjects from off camera. The film deals heavily with domestic violence and toxic masculinity. It is the first feature film that he directed, where Liu and Altman won the jury award for Best Cinematography, Documentary Feature.

Liu worked as a segment director for America to Me, a documentary series released by Starz in 2018.

Awards and honors In 2018, Liu's documentary Minding the Gap was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.

In 2020, Liu was named a United States Artists (USA) fellow.

In 2021, Liu and co-director Joshua altman won the jury award at the Tribeca Film Festival for Best Cinematography, Documentary Feature, for their documentary All These Sons.