Alexandra Hsu is a Chinese American filmmaker, born and raised in Orange County, CA, and has been directing and producing around the world. Alexandra received her Bachelors degree from Scripps College, double majoring in Media Studies and Asian Studies. For her undergraduate thesis project she interviewed 20 people and discussed their views on life and education. She was awarded the Payton Watkins Media Studies Award and received a grant to make her thesis documentary through Pomona College Museum of Art's Exhibit that year, "China Insights." She gained experience working on four documentaries including the Official Beijing Olympics Film, The Everlasting Flame and Brett Morgen’s Crossfire Hurricane about the Rolling Stones. Her first internship was with Spyglass Entertainment, working for producers such as Erin Stam (The Invisible, 27 Dresses) and Mike Larocca (Oblivion, Spy). One of her most rewarding experiences was working for Ellen Sandler, writer and Executive Producer on Everybody Loves Raymond, on her web series, Sandler’s directorial debut, Marisa Rules.
Alexandra received her MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in Film Production and Directing, where she realized her strengths were as a director and producer. Over the last few years, Alexandra directed five short films in Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Orange County, CA, and Long Island, NY respectively, and has directed a spec commercial, “Dove Real Beauty Sketches Asia”. Her Hong Kong short, “Sophie,” screened at over fifteen film festivals, including Oscar Qualifiers – Austin FF (WP, nominated for Best Student Film), Foyle FF (IP, nominated for the Light in Motion Short Film Award), HollyShorts, and the LA Asian Pacific FF (Nominated for the Golden Reel Award). "Our Way Home," her 1960s period film premiered at HollyShorts.
Alexandra is starting the festival run on two new short films: "Rencontres Paysannes/Farmers Dating," a passion project, that focuses on a female farmer who struggles to understand the new world of technology after her heart is broken. "POP!" is her NYU thesis film, a mother-daughter story, starring Emmy-nominated actress, Michelle Ang.
This year, she directed a short film “Unread” for non-profit SafeBAE, which encourages peer-to-peer mentoring for teens for sexual awareness, in the inaugural CBS Leadership Pipeline Challenge. In 2019, she was a Directing Mentee in Women in Film’s Mentoring Program. Alexandra was named the Kearny Street Workshop Featured Artist in Film at the 20th APAture Arts Festival, where she was featured on NBC News. Alexandra was a filmmaker-in-residence in the SFFILM FilmHouse Residency (2019-2020), with her first feature film, Queens. In the last few months, she started to develop the treatment of the feature about her great-grandmother Zhang Youyi in the Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab, and was an Advisor for the Sundance Collab Directing Core Elements course.
Alexandra's projects in development include the feature films Queens and the feature about her great-grandmother, currently titled The Poet's Wife (English title). She is also developing a narrative limited series about the story, murder, and case of Vincent Chin.
Alexandra's goal as a filmmaker is to tell stories that reach a global audience, universal stories that can be appreciated by everyone around the world. Given her documentary background, there will always be a sense of personal investigation and an exploration of truth. Her short films give voice to untold stories, harnessing the voices of Asian and Asian American girls and women, and women in general, often in intergenerational contexts. Her goal is ignite a national conversation about the poignancy of searching deep into our family stories and exploring our shared history as a nation of immigrants.