Raina Liwen Yang
Writer/Director
Raina Yang is a Chinese writer and director based in New York and Guangzhou. A recent MFA graduate in Film Directing from Columbia University, her work explores transcultural and collective narratives through close collaborations with diverse communities. Her most recent short film, shot in Newfoundland, Canada, received both the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Production Grant and the PictureNL Film Fund.
Her short films have screened at Hamptons International Film Festival, Asian American International Film Festival, New Faces New Voices, the New York Shorts International Film Festival and so on. She has received support from the Panavision New Filmmaker Program and the NYC Women’s Fund. A 2024 fellow of the Athena Writers Lab and 2025 fellow of BendFilm Basecamp, Raina is currently developing her first feature.
In addition to filmmaking, Raina is a nonfiction writer and journalist. Her work is rooted in the resurrection of silenced histories and guided by a deep commitment to community. She holds dual BAs in Cognitive Science and Film from UC Berkeley, where she began weaving her scientific background into lyrical storytelling.
Email: raina.yang@columbia.edu