Xingpei Shen

Xingpei Shen (b. 1994, Nanjing, China) is a Chinese-American filmmaker and animator based in Providence, RI. Shen earned a BFA in Film/Animation/Video from RISD in 2017,and an MFA in Animation from the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) in 2024.

Shen’s work explores the interiority of Chinese queerness and the unique experiences of marginalization it brings. Their film craft is time consuming and labor intensive. At the core of their practice is an ardent devotion to images. Working primarily in animation, Shen builds their cinematic imagery around ever-transmuting realms, often appropriating interpretive fairytale mythologies and Chinese cultural iconography to conjure a collection of audiovisual experiences of queerness. Their film Lotus Lantern has been shown internationally, winning Best Animated Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Golden Ger International Film Festival.