2025 Fountainhead Competition Programme

NAI An is an internationally celebrated producer and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). She graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, majoring in directing. She works as an independent film producer, and her productions include Suzhou River (2000), Blind Massage (2014), and The Shadow Play (2018). She has served as a judge for the international competition at the Sundance Film Festival and the Young Cinema Competition at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. As an actress, NAI An was awarded Best Actress at the 65th Festival del Film Locarno with When Night Falls (2012). A strong supporter of emerging filmmakers, she frequently serves as a mentor at the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF NEXT), the Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF TALENTS), and the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HAF Film Lab).

Nicole CHI AMÉN is a Costa Rican-born Chinese director. She’s been recognized with awards like the Directors Guild of America’s Student Film Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and the Princess Grace Award for Emerging Artists in Film. She was part of the Berlinale Talents Guadalajara and a Fulbright Fellow. Her work has been selected in festivals like Telluride, SXSW, Visions du Réel, and the Oscar Qualifying New Orleans Film Festival and BOGOshorts. She won the Best New Director award at our festival in 2024.

Alvin LUONG (b. Toronto) works with stories of human migration, land, and dialogues from diasporic and working class communities to create artworks that reflect upon historical development and its intimate effects on the lives of people. Luong has exhibited and screened artworks in institutions including Boers-Li Gallery (Beijing), Gudskul (Jakarta), The Polygon Gallery (Vancouver), and the Times Art Museum (Guangzhou). The artist has held research and resident artist appointments at the Inside-Out Art Museum (Beijing), HB Station Contemporary Art Research Center (Guangzhou), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto). The artist’s works are held in the Permanent Collection of The Rockefeller Foundation (New York City).

Annie SONG is a Beijing-based film producer and UC Berkeley graduate, known for her collaborations with emerging directors and her interest in bold, genre-blending storytelling. Early in her career, she participated in the production of Have a Nice Day (2017), Ghost in the Mountains (2017), and A Yangtze Landscape (2017). She later produced The Wind Will Say (2022), which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, and Frankenfish by the River (2024), was selected by HAF WIP, Focus Asia at the Far East Film Festival, and premiered at the FIRST International Film Festival.

Annie enjoys working with young and cross-cultural filmmakers across diverse styles and genres. Passionate about international collaboration, she co-produced I AM the Beauty of Your Beauty, I AM the Fear of Your Fear (2024) with Malaysian director TAN Chui Mui. She was selected for the BIFF Chanel X Asian Film Academy, Talents Tokyo, SGIFF Asian Producers Network, and BIFAN’s AI Fantastic Film School. Her upcoming feature projects include The Grand Village Priest and Dinosaur Boy.

Yang Linsi, born in Guangzhou, China, graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Film. He later delved into experimental film and contemporary art, and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

His works are rooted in his experiences of studying and living in various cities around the world, exploring the interplay of materiality, media, politics, and identity. Through film, installations, and mutimedia, he reflects on the complex relationship between the individual and the collective in the context of globalization.

Zhouanqi Liu, born in Changsha, China, is a director, screenwriter, editor, production designer, still photographer, and darkroom practitioner. 

Their work explores individual existence and fate through poetic visual language.

Holding a degree in MFA Film with a Directing concentration from Columbia University and a BA in Screenwriting from Beijing Film Academy. Zhouanqi Liu currently lives in New York, with a base in Beijing.

Xuliang Zhang was born in Nanjing, China, and graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Art History. She is currently based in Boston.

She joined Mulan International Film Festival as a programmer in 2019 and grew along with Fountainhead during the past 6 years.

Liu Yuetong, originally from Tianjin, previously lived in Beijing and Guangzhou, and is now based in Toronto. She holds an MFA in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University,  and a dual BA in Sociology and Economics from the University of Connecticut.

She currently makes a living through writing, teaching, film developing, and overseeing cinema facilities. Her work often explores personal questions and uncertainties, with documentary filmmaking and curating as her daily practice. Currently, she is most drawn to nature and trees, and is exploring ways of communication between the individual and the world.

Louis Zhou, originally from Chengdu, Sichuan, graduated with a degree in Film Studies from  Beijing Film Academy and completed the Screenwriting Professional Program at UCLA in 2025. He is currently based in Toronto and works in the DMR department at IMAX Corporation. Prior to moving to Canada, he worked at Beijing Culture as a development and production manager, where he was closely involved in the development, producing and distribution of multiple film projects. In 2024, he joined the programming team of the Mulan International Film Festival.

Page Zhang was born in Urumqi, Xinjiang, grew up in Beijing, and is currently based in Vancouver. She holds a degree in Interactive Arts and Technology from Simon Fraser University and will soon pursue an MFA in Film Directing at Chapman University.

 Working actively as an editor, director, and curator, her creative projects primarily focus on women and family narratives, exploring the intimate connections between personal experiences and visual storytelling. She joined the Mulan International Film Festival team in 2024.