SIDRA

Edward Chen is a director and cinematographer from Los Angeles, CA. As the child of Taiwanese immigrants, he developed a cross-cultural sensibility that comes from the dichotomy of growing up in sunny Southern California and spending soul-crushingly humid summers in Taipei. An openness to seeing the common ground in the human condition has long been his influence as a storyteller. As a filmmaker, Ed draws on his multi-disciplinary experiences in design, advertising, photography, and cinema.

Early in his career, Ed spent evenings photographing bands playing in the vibrant indie rock scene in Hollywood. His long-exposure night photography project, “Urban Nocturne”, shot on medium format film was exhibited in LA and featured in design magazine, CMYK. An opportunity to direct and shoot his first music video led Ed to pivot into cinematography.

As a cinematographer, Ed’s work consisted of music videos for talented US and international music artists. In addition, he’s been fortunate to have shot a variety of documentary and feature film projects which has taken him to rarely photographed parts of the world.

Ed received an MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute Conservatory. Prior to attending AFI, he graduated from Cal State University, Long Beach with BFAs in Graphic Design and Photography. While having received a formal education, Ed credits the most profound lessons in art and creativity came from observing the world with both eyes open while recognizing the complex nature of the human spirit.