LU LIU

DP/director for
docs and brand videos 
in China

​​​​​​
  • I pitch stories and make short docs or part of long documentaries as DP or one-man-band filmmaker. A documentary called "Ximei" that I was one of the cinematographers was chosen for premiere at Human Rights International Film Festival in Geneva. Another feature-length documentary about China's left-behind children for which I was local director and the second camera person, won silver at New York Festival. 
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​I work as video journalist or camerawoman for international broadcasters, such as Washington Post, South China Morning Post(HK), BBC, AP, France 24, Channel News Asia(Singapore), NRK(Norway), France 2, RTS(Switzerland), RTF( Belgium), RTL( Germany), Spanish basque tv, AJ+, etc. ​
  • I'm crew leader and work as DP/editor for companies and institutions, such as HP, BMW,  AIIB, Tencent, Auchan, Renault, Greenpeace etc. I can cover events, make brand videos etc.
  • In 2019, I founded Focus Film China(www.focusfilmchina.com), a video production company which later became video vendor of UNICEF in China in 2021.
  • ​I shoot with Sony FX9, FX6, FX3, Canon C300II, Sony A7III, Panasonic P2 270/298, a7s, a7r etc. I'm equipped with various kinds of mics and lights too.
  • I edit with Da Vinci, final cut X, as well as avid, premiere pro. I was one of editors for Dakar series, China Rally in Inner Mongolia.
  • I can do drone shooting with Mavic pro.
  • I graduated from l'Ecole Superieure de Journalisme, Lille(ESJ) in France and was majored in TV (2011-2013).
  • I speak Chinese, French and English.​

contact:
xisuliulu@yahoo.com

With 10 years+ of experience in video shooting and editng, I have a sense for filming and stories...


 showreel

​​
WORKS

 Some of my video stories

This short doc of 10 minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cdJfAUIr2w&t=3s)  that I made by myself for South China Morning Post got 1.3 millions of views in Youtube alone. It's about a 16-year-old Chen Zhenzhen, who gave up her education at the age of 12, after her family could no longer afford her school fees, and became a migrant worker to help support her younger siblings. Realising that without an education, Chen says she has no way out of a future bound to doing manual labour.
​'Last time I heard from her, she told me her youngest brother lost a finger in an accident when staying with their grandma, who got some many kids to take care of...She didn't go back to school and still working hard to support her family.

The traditional practice of ear picking in China, using fine instruments to remove ear wax and “massage” the ear canal, dates back generations. It is especially popular in the city of Chengdu, where ear picking craftsmen offer their services to customers in tea houses and public parks. But one ear picking practitioner joined the trade much later in life. The retired teacher is doing it out of necessity to support his sick daughter...
Length: 04:03
My role: story,camera,editing.translating
To watch this video on South China Morning Post: ​https://www.scmp.com/video/china/2151936/chinese-father-takes-daughters-ear-picker-job-pay-her-cancer-treatment

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​His family abandoned him, but this 89-year-old found a new lease of life as a nude model...
​

Length: 02:51
My role: story,camera,editing.translating
To watch this video on South China Morning Post: ​
​​​​​​​​​​To combat the pollution and environmental degradation, Hebei aims to increase its total forest area by 35 percent by the end of 2020 and has deployed 60,000 workers to plant trees. But not everyone is happy...


Length: 03:43
My role: story,camera,editing.translating
To watch this video on Washington Post: ​
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/06/01/china-forest/?utm_term=.59d683c1c205

Forced out by trees

Chinese 89-year-old nude model

Chinese father takes daughter’s ear picker job to pay for her cancer treatment

Left behind by China’s green dream​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
To watch the video on the website of Washington Post and read the article I wrote, please go to:
Length: 06:49

I made this video on my own in the beautiful Erhai lake area in Yunnan province. I met with farmers who "suffer" from the cleaning campaign of Erhai lake. If someone should pay for the price of environment after the rapid economic development in China, who should it be?
Length: 05:51
My role: story,camera,editing.translating
To watch this video on Washington Post: 
This video was commissioned by WashingtonPost on the subject. I found the guy, filmed and edited it. His name is Bai Shaofeng, a 25-year-old hairdresser. It has been nine years since he came to Beijing, a city he loves but it's difficult to find a girlfriend...

​To watch this video on Washington Post: ​
        A Lonely Soul in Beijing 
Length: 02:55​
​My role: Story, Camera, Editing and translating
​
 
 Length: 05'50
 My role: one-man-band camerawoman and rough cut


I was the lcoal director/producer of a three persons’ shooting crew (along with a cameraman and a soundwoman) for this one-hour documentary. I also worked as second-camera person. We filmed during ten days in an isolated village in Henan province about left-behind children, whose parents work in cities and visit them once a year. It’s a commision from ​​​​​​Channel News Asia. I did reasearch, found and selected the characters, did recce, made shooting plans, organized the shooting, did all the interviews and still keep good relations with characters in the film. It got Silver World Medal at ​​​​​​​​​New York Festival and got nominated for Best Documentary Series at the Asia TV Awards. Check out the whole video at:     http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/winners/2017/pieces-mobile.php?iid=511652&pid=1

      China's left-behind

Another Disneyland opened its door in Shanghai on the 16th June. Xie Jun, one of 30 thousands migrant workers who have worked for this Disneyland since 2014, met his two-year-old boy only for three times.He wishes that his little boy's life would be less harder than his...

A Disneyland worker’s left-behind child 
Length: 03'16
My role: Story, Camera, interviewing, Translating, editing 
Subtitled in English

I did this video as one-man-band filmmaker ( filming, interviewing and editing) for BBC Africa.
It's about a former lawyer Lola who came to Beijing to pursue her football dream.

BBC Africa: Female Football Coach


Length: 03'16
My role:  Camera, interviewing, Editing 
Subtitled in English

​
It's about a Chinese migrant worker who had lung cancer and had to test new drugs for a hospital in Beijing to get free treatment. After the experiment finshed, his wife wanted to sell one of their little girls to save her husband's life. The first reaction of their girls was " Don't sell me", but after a while, both of them agreed, saying " please buy us back when papa is cured."...In six hours after its release, 150,000 yuan was collected online for this family.

 ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Don't sell me
Length: Length: 08'00​​​​​
My role: one-man-band ( story, shooting and editing)
Subtitled in Chinese, with more than 110,000 clicks in Chinese websites


Length: 03'16
My role: one-man-band shooting


​​

Qiqi and Miya are both overweighted since childhood. They were once among girls who couldn’t see beauty in themselves and could hardly find suitable clothes. Thanks to the booming of e-commerce in China, they found what they can put on, and even better, they become models.
    

 ​​​​Plus-sized models in China

Length: 02'10
My role: one-man-band ( story, shooting and editing)

          To see more video stories of mine, please go to the  page " ​​docs and news".