Elizabeth Ai

Elizabeth Ai is a Chinese-Vietnamese-American, Los Angeles-based Emmy award-winning producer. She writes, directs, and produces independent narratives as well as branded content for companies such as National Geographic, ESPN, and VICE. She produced documentary features DIRTY HANDS: THE ART & CRIMES OF DAVID CHOE (2008), on the titled artist after his prison release and before his meteoric rise and A WOMAN’S WORK: THE NFL’S CHEERLEADER PROBLEM (2019), which examines wage theft and exploitation of the only visible NFL women. Additionally, she produced SAIGON ELECTRIC (2011), a feature narrative set in Vietnam’s world of breakdancing. During her tenure at VICE, she created the original pilot for BONG APPÉTIT (2014), which got picked up for series on Viceland. She’s currently directing and producing two in-progress feature documentaries and has a slate of narratives in development. She’s a fellow of Berlin Talent Campus, Corporation for Public Broadcast, Center for Asian American Media, Film Independent, Firelight Media, Sundance, The Gotham, and Tribeca. She received her B.A. from the University of Southern California..

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ABOUT NEW WAVE

Mile high hair. Synth music. Underground parties. The “Viet New Wave” scene of 1980s California was the catalyst to healing for a generation of refugees stranded in cultural limbo. NEW WAVE is a coming-of-age story that celebrates the trailblazers who rebuilt community and forged a music industry more influential than the one they left behind in the wake of the Vietnam War.

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