Louisa Wei

Louisa Wei is a Professor of Cinematic Art at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. With a PhD in Film Studies from the University of Alberta and an MA in Comparative Literature from Carleton University, she has taught over 4,000 students since joining CityU in 2001, offering courses in documentary filmmaking, visual storytelling, and Chinese cinema.

Her research focuses on Chinese and Sinophone cinema, with special emphasis on women directors, documentary film, and transnational film history. She has published extensively on early Chinese women filmmakers, particularly exploring figures like Esther Eng, Huang Shuqin, and other pioneering women in Chinese-language cinema across different eras and regions.

Wei's scholarly work intersects with her practice as an independent documentary filmmaker. Her publications reveal a consistent pattern of examining marginalized voices in Chinese cinematic history, particularly women filmmakers and politically persecuted intellectuals. She employs a unique methodology that blends academic research with documentary filmmaking techniques, creating a distinctive interdisciplinary approach.

Among her notable achievements, Wei's book Esther Eng: Ocean-crossing Film and Women Pioneers won the Hong Kong Book Award in 2017, while Wang Shiwei: A Reform in Thinking received the Distinguished Publishing Prize in the Literature and Fiction Category at the First Hong Kong Biennial Publishing Prize.

As an educator, Wei has advised hundreds of student projects, many of which have won awards at international and local film festivals. She has also served as a professional jury member for the Hong Kong Film Awards and became a member of the Hong Kong Director's Guild in 2018.