Siu-Di Wang

Wang Shaudi (Chinese: 王小棣; pinyin: Wáng Xiǎodì) is a Taiwanese film and television director, writer, and producer. She also taught film courses previously at the Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) and the Chinese Culture University (CCU). She works in both documentary filmmaking and fictional storytelling. Her works mostly focus on depicting local society and personal connections through dramatic storytelling. She has been involved in productions such as Life Plan A and B, 1000 Walls in Dream, and Tropical Fish. She has won multiple awards for her works including Yours and Mine for Best Screenplay at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Grandma and Her Ghosts for Best Film at the Taipei Film Festival. In 2014 she was presented with the Taiwan National Award for Arts for her contributions to filmmaking. Wang Shaudi was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1953. She completed her undergraduate degree in Theater Arts at the Chinese Culture University (CCU) before pursuing a master's degree in Theatre at the Trinity University in Texas, USA. She later transferred to the University of San Francisco to major in film. Upon graduation, in 1979, she returned to Taiwan and started her own company, Min Xin Studio, where she worked as assistant director and screenwriter for The Battle of Erdan (1982), and later as screenwriter for Wang Toon's Strawman (1987) and Banana Paradise (1989). On February 10, 1992, she co-founded, with fellow director Huang Li-ming, Rice Film International, a company primarily produces television series and feature length television films for the Public Television Service of Taiwan. Winning numerous Golden Bell Awards, including Best Television Series, Best Television Film, Best Directing, and Best Writing, Wang Shaudi has become a household name for commoner television series of the 1980s and 1990s Taiwan and is most well-known for her television productions: Quanjiafu (全家福), Jiajiafu (家家福), Muji dai aiaoya (母雞帶小鴨), and Nasanmagu wodejia (納桑麻谷我的家). After working on a number of television productions, she wrote and directed her first feature length film, Accidental Legend, which was released in 1996. Two years later, she directed the feature length animation, Grandma and Her Ghosts, which went on to win awards at the Taipei Film Festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Film Festival.