Nicole Chen(IV)

Born and raised in China, Nicole is a fresh graduate with a master degree in Drama Directing from the University of Auckland. As a child, Nicole lived in China just north of the Hong Kong border during the Golden Film era, watching every film she could lay her eyes on. To her, filmmaking was an unreachable dream she is now living. Growing up in a young urban city with parents from culturally distant parts of China, then moving to New Zealand during her formative years forever leaves her the question, 'where am I from?'. And with a complex family and long journey of self-searching, it has helped her to research what makes people who they are, and why they did what they did. Syd Field wrote, "Without conflict, there is no action; without action, there is no character; without character, there is no story". In Nicole's words, 'film is life. Without a life, there is no film. So I live, I experience, I observe, I cogitate and I digest.'

Nicole's first two films have featured in film festivals around the world. She is attracted to exploring characters living at the edge of the abyss, a step away from greatness and destruction, exploring angles to reveal the complexities of humanity, and human emotions in situations where the characters are trapped and fighting to find their way. Her films reveal the emotions and feelings of the haunted side of our memory, our fragility, our flaws. They explore us, us humans.