Sean Ali Wang
王申
Sean Ali Wang is a Hui-Chinese film director and visual artist born in 1991 and grew up in Beijing. He currently lives in Amsterdam.
In the last decade, he has straddled the border between China and Europe, researching on Chinese diaspora, Sino-European relations, Occidentalism, Sinophonic Cosmopolitanism, and power shifts in globalization through ethnographic moving image works mainly made in China, Greece, Italy, and Brazil. His works also reflect his own identity as an ethnic minority from a Chinese Muslim family whose three main members are scattered on three continents.
Besides his single-channel big-screen cinema practice, he also explores other possibilities to present moving images more spatially, object-oriented and interdisciplinarily. This led to the making of his multi-screen video installations that share the same subjects with his documentary film works.
Education & workshop
2025 Tokyo Talents
2022-2024 University of the Arts Utrecht, MA of Fine Arts
2013-2016 Beijing Film Academy, MA of film screenplay writing
2009-2013 Communication University of China, BA of TV directing
Films
as director, cinematographer and film editor
2027 Pratopia (work in progress)
feature-length documentary film
Netherlands, Italy
supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
pitched at Torino Film Lab, Tokyo Talents,
and Visions du Reel (EDA Award, DokLeipzig Award)
96 minutes documentary film
Netherlands, France, Hong Kong, Greece
selected at 40+ international film and art festivals including IDFA, Visions du Reel, CPH:DOX, Hotdocs, Melbourne IFF, Art of the Real Lincoln Center, DMZ, Thessaloniki
broadcast on ARTE, NHK, ERT, RTS, KBS
theatrically released in Spain
permanently collected by Newcastle University, Rochester University and Columbia University
87 minutes documentary film
Netherlands, China
selected at 10+ International film festivals including IDFA, One World Prague, EIDF
28 minutes documentary film
China
won 5+ student film awards
Exhibitions
solo exhibition The World. The Park.
at Fang Suo Commune (Beijing, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Sanya)
with 5 video installation works
Our World Our Park
three-channel 13-minute video installation
three-channel 16-minute video installation with recycled fabrics
A Marble Travelogue (installation version)
four-channel 30-minute video installation
three-channel 3-minute video installation
single channel 13-minute interactive video installation
group exhibition (Dis)comfort Narratives: Moving with the Feeling
at BAK - basis voor actuele kunst (Utrecht) 2024
with Prato Trio
three-channel 16-minute video installation with recycled fabrics
Lectures
University of Amsterdam
Delft University of Technology
Leiden University
Zhejiang University
Beijing Film Academy
Communication University of China
China Academy of Art
Juries & guests
2025 Advisory for Stimuleringsfonds Creative Industry - talent Development Grant recipient
2024 forum guest of Hainan Island International FF
2024 Jury member of Tangier FF
2023 Jury member of Beijing International Shorts FF
2021 Jury member of Westlake Documentary FF
2020 Jury member of New Era Youth Vision Season