
Sheldon Chau
Camera
Biography
Born in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, Sheldon developed a passion for movies as a child when his dad brought home Jackie Chan films via a local laserdisc rental store. As a teenager, he discovered that movies went beyond entertainment when both his drama teacher and artist uncle recommended films from the Criterion Collection. After college, Sheldon made a short documentary in which he interviewed his father and learned of his parents’ harrowing journey out of Vietnam as boat people; this cemented his commitment to storytelling through filmmaking. Sheldon holds a BA from UC Irvine in Film Studies and an MFA from NYU Tisch in directing and cinematography. Sheldon’s work has screened at top festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice, and Berlin. His recent credits as cinematographer include Demba - which premiered at this year’s Berlinale; Nafi’s Father - Senegal’s official entry to the 2021 Oscars - and Enmity Djinn - an episode of Netflix’s African Folktales Reimagined anthology. Sheldon is the winner of the ARRI Volker Bahnemann Award for Cinematography, a Visual Communications AWC Fellow, and part of the ASC Vision Mentorship program. As a director, his short film Flying Eggs was a 2021 Slamdance Film Festival selection and latest work In Max We Trust can be seen on YouTube’s Omeleto short film channel. Sheldon has specialized in shooting internationally, working with diverse colleagues, and balancing both large- and guerrilla-sized crews. As a filmmaker, he continues to seek stories that are evocative, personal, and emotionally resonant.
Known For

After witnessing the cruel sacrifice of his childhood friend, an atheist warrior rejects religion until love forces him to find his own faith.
Kannappa

When two boys are kidnapped in a border town in Nepal, Detective Inspector Pooja is sent from Kathmandu to solve the case. But when she arrives, the brewing political unrest and violent protests throw her off course, and she is forced to seek help from Mamata, a local Madhesi policewoman. By putting aside systemic discrimination and pushing through everyday misogyny, the women solve the case - but at what personal cost?
Pooja, Sir

In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night -- and possibly her life.
Zi

When a struggling comedian reluctantly returns home for the holidays, not only must she deal with her eccentric family, but she ultimately faces a life-changing decision about her special-needs brother.
How to Ruin the Holidays

After being sent to Nigeria against his will, a stubborn Nigerian-American teenager joins forces with an internet scammer in order to return to the United States.
Nigerian Prince

In the desert of the Payahuunadü valley (the name means “land of flowing water”) of California, a father performs butoh for the first time in front of his former prodigy rock climber child. They speak to each other through their bodies to find a way to heal their relationship and the land.
Tamashi

Arjun and Anu are fraternal twins who manage to run a scam in the US from India via a call center. With police officer Kumar hot on their heels, will they manage to escape the system?
Mosagallu

Summer, 1997. In a small community in southwest China, an 8-year-old tries to capture the thief responsible for stealing his grandma's bike and enters the moral quandary for the first time.
Summer Knight

A hotshot investment firm CEO who prides himself in both representing Brooklyn and supporting local artists decides to venture into an ambitious real estate project to revolutionize a local neighborhood's art scene.
In Max We Trust

Tokara wants to marry his cousin, the beautiful Nafi, bringing their fathers into conflict with one another. The youngest brother is a clergyman, while the other is a candidate for Mayor of the small town in Senegal. The struggle seems to be all about the children, but gradually it transpires that the children are pawns in a bitter dispute. Can their family ties help them overcome these ideological differences?
Nafi's Father

After her mother's traditional Chinese medicine shop is vandalized, a young botanist draws on the resilience of her local community and the healing remedies of her ancestors to contend with her deepest anxieties.
Roots That Reach Toward The Sky

At the end of an overdue family reunion in their ancestral land, Rain, a non-binary Chinese American discovers a family secret that launches them on a surreal odyssey to seek out the truth about their estranged father—whose disappearance is entwined with the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin.
When the River Split Open

During winter break, a young woman struggles with her sexuality as she's torn between family expectations and her own desires.
Fish Bones

An idealistic recent film school graduate with few local professional options takes a road trip from Ohio to Los Angeles with his anxious best friend, his troubled high school sweetheart and a hitchhiker hippie, to chase his dream of becoming a filmmaker.
Your Own Road
The lines between trust,betrayal and forgiveness become gray and intertwined as we follow Amadou and Yaya, two Senegalese vendors working in New York.
Jungle

55-year-old Demba is about to retire after 30 years of service at the city hall in his small town in Northern Senegal. That hot summer, as the 2-year anniversary of his wife’s passing approaches, he realizes he just can’t “shake it off.” As his mental health deteriorates, he discovers a new connection with his once estranged son.
Demba

On a random night of summer 1998, two good friends from a boarding school travel through time to 15 years ahead by pure happenstance. Wandering in the same neighbourhood where they were still growing up, they discover changes in their friends and loved ones - some of which are inevitable. Places which they enjoyed moments ago became remnants of the past while other shops appear to be timeless. In this magical tale which is also a social commentary, the two children seek to understand the world and themselves in 2013 through their innocent minds, and perhaps learn the first lesson on the passage of time.
The Stars The Sun The Moon

A father and son agree to a winner-take-all chess blitz in order to settle a bet.
Blitz

In a dark bedroom, when Hollis uses breath work to soothe herself, she suddenly is transported to a desert where she encounters her wounded inner child. Over the course of a sunset, they reconcile their lost relationship.
Subliminal

After the death of his beloved aunt, Daniel, a gay, struggling actor, visits Esther, his devout Christian, Korean mother. Despite their differences, they try to heal together. But old habits die hard.