Liu Jiayin

Liu Jiayin (born 20 August 1981) is a Chinese independent filmmaker and educator from Beijing. She directed two experimental features combining documentary and narrative elements, Oxhide and Oxhide II (2009), both of which received international awards.

Liu was called "one of the most exciting and unique talents to emerge from China in the 2000s" by The Hollywood Reporter, with Oxhide being described in 2006 as "the most important Chinese film of the past several years". She has written television dramas and currently teaches screenwriting at the Beijing Film Academy.

In 2009 Liu finished her second film, Oxhide II. With a similar focus on her family, this "sequel" was seen as more simple in construction, employing only nine separate shots in a running time of over two hours. All the film's narrative occurs in the real-time process of Liu and her family preparing to make, making, cooking and eating jiaozi (Chinese dumplings). A marked contrast not only to commercial film aesthetics but also with other independent films from China, Oxhide II premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival as part of its Directors Fortnight program. At the end of the year, Oxhide II was named one of the three masterpieces of Chinese cinema in the 2000s by critic Shelly Kraicer.

Filmography Year English title Chinese title Notes 2002 The Train 火车 Short film 2005 Oxhide 牛皮 2009 Oxhide II 牛皮贰 2010 607 Short film 2023 All Ears 不虚此行