With a 15 year break between her two films, Alice Wu knows life isn’t lived linearly.

A former computer scientist, she designed software for Microsoft until her late twenties, when she left the tech world to become a filmmaker. Her debut feature SAVING FACE (2005) made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival where it was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The critically-acclaimed film played in theaters worldwide and garnered several festival accolades.

Alice’s second film, THE HALF OF IT, won the Founder’s Award at the Tribeca Film Festival before it was released on Netflix in 2020. The script was a 2018 selection for the prestigious Black List and has been nominated for Best Screenplay for the Independent Spirit Awards.

Between these two films, Alice has just been living her life: spending time with her family, perfecting her scone recipe, teaching and studying long-form improv. This is perhaps why she is known for humanistic comedies that feature Asian, immigrant, and queer characters caught in unexpected circumstances.