Roseanne Liang (original) (raw)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Zealand film director

Roseanne Liang is a New Zealand film director.[1] Her first feature film, My Wedding and Other Secrets, was the first theatrically released feature film made by a Chinese New Zealander and became 2011's highest grossing local feature film.[2] She also co-created, directed, and co-wrote the 2021 TV series Creamerie.

Liang was born in New Zealand to Hong Kong emigrants. Her parents were doctors, one was a doctor and the other a nurse.[3] She has two sisters.[4] Liang attended St Cuthbert's College, Auckland, and was dux of the school in 1995.[5]

She went on to study computer science at the University of Auckland.[3] She graduated with a Masters in Creative and Performing Arts in 2003.[4]

Liang made her directorial debut with the autobiographical documentary film Banana in a Nutshell (2005), which was about her own cross-cultural romance with a Pākehā.[6] The film won Best Documentary at DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival.[7] Liang won Best Director of Documentary Films at Asian Festival of First Films.[7] The film was screened at New Zealand International Film Festival 2005,[8] where she met John Barnett, a producer from South Pacific Pictures, who requested a feature length adaptation of the documentary.[4]

That project later became the romantic comedy My Wedding and Other Secrets (2011).[1] The film won Best Actress and Best Screenplay Award for a feature film at the Aotearoa Film & Television Awards.[2]

Liang also directed the short film Take 3, which won awards in 2007 at the Berlin and Valladolid Film Festivals, and the hit web series Flat3 and Friday Night Bites.[9][10] In 2008, she was awarded Women in Film and Television International's Woman to Watch Award for Women in Film and Television.[5]

Liang is a part of the Thousand Apologies Collective, a creative cohort of seven writers and filmmakers based in Auckland, New Zealand, which includes Shuchi Kothari and Serina Pearson. They made their television debut with their pan-Asian sketch comedy series A Thousand Apologies on TV3, New Zealand's first prime time Asian program.[11][12] Kothari and Liang later cofounded the Pan-Asian Screen Collective with others in August 2018 to support Asian filmmakers in New Zealand.[13]

In 2017, she directed a short film Do No Harm, which was selected to be shown at the Manhattan Short film festival[14] and the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.[15]

In 2020, Liang directed and co-wrote Shadow in the Cloud, a WWII action-horror film, starring Chloë Grace Moretz from a story treatment by Max Landis. It debuted at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award.[16]

Short film

Feature film

Television

Web series

Liang is married to Stephen Harris, the subject of Banana in a Nutshell.[17] They have two children.[16]

• SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year (2005)[18][_importance?_]
• Best Director of Documentary Films — Asian Festival of First Films[7]
• Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award (2012)[5][_importance?_]

1. ^ a b Debruge, Peter (25 February 2021). "10 Directors to Watch: Roseanne Liang Launches Action Ambitions With 'Shadow in the Cloud'". Variety. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
2. ^ a b "Roseanne Liang, Writer/Director". WIFT New Zealand. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
3. ^ a b "Roseanne Liang". ngataonga.org.nz. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
4. ^ a b c Wilford, Judy (Spring 2006). "Filmmaker in a nutshell" (PDF). Ingenio. University of Auckland. pp. 30–31.
5. ^ a b c "Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards | Old Girls' Association". St Cuthbert's College. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
6. ^ Francesca, Rudkin (7 February 2021). "Roseanne Liang hits Hollywood big leagues with Shadow in the Cloud". The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin (Podcast). Newstalk ZB. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
7. ^ a b c Barclay, Keith (3 March 2014). "Roseanne Liang honoured by University of Auckland". SCREENZ. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
8. ^ New Zealand International Film Festival: Banana in a Nutshell, retrieved 7 March 2021
9. ^ "Roseanne Liang | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. NZ On Screen. Retrieved 6 May 2018.{{[cite web](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fweb "Template:Cite web")}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
10. ^ "Roseanne Liang tipped by Hollywood Reporter as director to watch". Stuff. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
11. ^ "The Asian inversion". Otago Daily Times. 21 October 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
12. ^ Screen, NZ On. "A Thousand Apologies | Series | Television | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
13. ^ Medel, Mariah Alyssa (4 September 2018). "New collective fights for Asians on NZ screens". Newsroom. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
14. ^ "Kiwi short film Do No Harm earns Oscars nod at Manhattan Short". Stuff. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
15. ^ "Gunning for Hollywood and #TimesUp for NZ". RNZ. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
16. ^ a b "Roseanne Liang on Shadow In The Cloud". www.wiftnz.org.nz. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
17. ^ Morgan, Scott (10 March 2011). "Casting a light on culture clash". Stuff. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
18. ^ "SPADA celebrates film industry achievements". The Big Idea Editor. 25 November 2005. Retrieved 8 March 2021.

• Roseanne Liang at IMDb
• Interview about My Wedding and Other Secrets