Director and cinematographer Wen-jie Qin was born in China, where she graduated from Beijing University in 1989 with a B.A. in Philosophy. She later obtained a Ph.D. in Religion and Film from Harvard University in 2000.

Qin has produced a number of award-winning documentaries on religion, gender, children and economic reform in post-Mao China. As a long-time resident of the United States, she was put in a unique position when she returned home in the mid-1990’s. The many societal changes she witnessed became central topics in her films, through which she managed to combine the profound intimacy felt by a native with senses of discovery and exploration of a visitor from the West.

While a fellow at Harvard Film Studies Center, Qin completed a documentary about the journey of an ancient totem pole from the Peabody Museum at Harvard to its Tlingit home in Southeast Alaska under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

In recent years, Qin has been making documentaries in the Netherlands for the Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation and VPRO Television. Her latest films on the Chinese Buddhist community and new immigrants in the Netherlands have all aired on Dutch national channels.

Women Make Movies
Imagine News Biography
The Calling
Pure Land, Amsterdam