April 7, 2021 1:56 pm
Kartemquin is delighted to share that Jiayan "Jenny" Shi's Finding Yingying is now available to stream on MTV and MTV.com! In October 2020, MTV Documentary Films has acquired worldwide rights - excluding China - for Finding Yingying. The film can also be viewed through a number of MTV's cable VOD partners including: Verizon, AT&T HD, COX, Dish/Sling, Fubo TV, Philo, Xfinity, YouTube TV and DirecTV. Viewers using Pluto TV can access the film now.
Along with other MTV shows, Finding Yingying will find a streaming home on Paramount+ on April 14th.
Winner of a SXSW Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Voice, Finding Yingying tells the tragic story of Yingying Zhang, a young Chinese student who went missing from the University of Illinois campus. Director/producer Jiayan “Jenny” Shi closely followed her family’s in their first ever trip to the USA, as they searched to unravel the mystery of her disappearance and seek justice for their daughter while navigating a foreign country.
Since the film's SXSW premiere, it has gone on to win Best Documentary Feature, Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and Best Documentary Feature at Loudoun Arts Film Festival. It was in competition at the upcoming Chicago International Film Festival and for the Miami Film Festival Gems Documentary Achievement Award, among others.
Shi initially developed the project as a student at Northwestern University and then in the Diverse Voices in Docs program, operated by Kartemquin and Community Film Workshop of Chicago. The film also won Paley DocPitch Competition in 2018 and pitched at TFI Network 2019. In August, Shi was selected as one of Sundance Institute’s 11 artists selected for the first-ever Women at Sundance | Adobe Fellowship, designed to meaningfully support women artists creating bold new work in film and media.
Finding Yingying was directed by Jiayan “Jenny” Shi, produced by Brent Huffman, DIane Moy Quon, and Jiayan “Jenny” Shi, co-produced by Shilin Sun, cinematography by Shilin Sun and Jiayan “Jenny” Shi, executive produced by Gordon Quinn, Jolene Pinder, Mark Mitten, Ken Pelletier, edited by John Farbrother.