Renee Zhan
Directing
Biography
Renee Zhan is a Chinese-American director and animator from Houston, Texas. In her films Renee is primarily interested in exploring topics of the body, nature, sexuality - all things beautiful, ugly, and squishy. Her short films have screened and won awards internationally.
Known For

Fei is the top violinist of an elite London youth orchestra. When another Chinese violinist arrives to challenge her place in the orchestra, Fei’s anxieties and internalised racism grow to take monstrous physical form. They whisper to her, urging her to be the best, no matter the cost.
Shé (Snake)

A woman who can't stand the passing of time turns herself into a black hole. A thousand unchanging years pass inside her warm and dark embrace until, finally, the Singularity awakens inside.
O Black Hole!

Three Renees go on a quest to find God, who is also Renee. As they cross the mountains and valleys of Renee, they discover all the great joys, tragedies, and mysteries of being Renee.
Reneepoptosis

Flap flap flap flap. A large bird and a small boy cohabit in an unhappy relationship, trapped by four walls and a mutual codependence. The fragile balance of their relationship is cracked by a new arrival.
Hold Me (Ca Caw Ca Caw)
A suicidal pigeon contemplates existence.
Pidge

Two ex-lovers bump into each other on their daily commute.
Soft Animals
Originating from footage of Thomas Watson relating the conception of the telephone, Birth of the Telephone distorts and challenges the simplicity of this account. We uncover a different type of birth occurring. Here is a device that, beneath the camouflage of instrumentality, raises questions about connection, anxiety and death.
The Birth of the Telephone

Filmed in various places over the globe, Ghost Strata explores the differing scales of impact that humanity’s presence has on the earth in the past, present and into the future. Found sound and text create a meditation on time, memory, leftovers and extinction.
Ghost Strata

Short animation by Renee Zahn