Roseanne Liang

Liang was born in New Zealand to Hong Kong emigrants. Her parents were doctors, one was a pediatrician and the other a surgeon.[3] She has two sisters.[4] Liang attended St Cuthbert's College, Auckland, and was dux of the school in 1995.[5]

She went on to study computer science at the University of Auckland.[3] She graduated with a Masters in Creative and Performing Arts in 2003.[4]

Liang made her directorial debut with the autobiographical documentary film Banana in a Nutshell (2005), which was about her own cross-cultural romance with a Pākehā.[6] The film won Best Documentary at DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival.[7] Liang won Best Director of Documentary Films at Asian Festival of First Films.[7] The film was screened at New Zealand International Film Festival 2005,[8] where she met John Barnett, a producer from South Pacific Pictures, who requested a feature length adaptation of the documentary.[4]

That project later became the romantic comedy My Wedding and Other Secrets (2011).[1] The film won Best Actress and Best Screenplay Award for a feature film at the Aotearoa Film & Television Awards.[2]

Liang also directed the short film Take 3, which won awards in 2007 at the Berlin and Valladolid Film Festivals, and the hit web series Flat3 and Friday Night Bites.[9][10] In 2008, she was awarded Women in Film and Television International's Woman to Watch Award for Women in Film and Television.[5]

Liang is a part of the Thousand Apologies Collective, a creative cohort of seven writers and filmmakers based in Auckland, New Zealand, which includes Shuchi Kothari and Serina Pearson. They made their television debut with their pan-Asian sketch comedy series A Thousand Apologies on TV3, New Zealand's first prime time Asian program.[11][12] Kothari and Liang later cofounded the Pan-Asian Screen Collective with others in August 2018 to support Asian filmmakers in New Zealand.[13]

In 2017, she directed a short film Do No Harm, which was selected to be shown at the Manhattan Short film festival[14] and the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.[15]

In 2020, Liang directed and co-wrote Shadow in the Cloud, a WWII action-horror film, starring Chloë Grace Moretz from a story treatment by Max Landis. It debuted at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award.[16]

• Creamerie (2021) TV Series, director/co-writer
• Shadow in the Cloud (2020) Feature Film, director/co-screenplay
• Unboxed (2017) Web-series 6 episodes, director
• Do No Harm (2017) Short, director/writer
• Friday Night Bites (2016-2018) web-series, director/co-writer
• Sugar Hit (2015) short, co-director/writer
• Flat3 (2013) web-series 12 episodes, director/writer
• My Wedding and Other Secrets (2011) Feature Film, director/co-writer
• A Thousand Apologies (2008) 6 episode tv sketch series, Co-director/co-writer
• Take 3 (2008) Short, director/writer
• Banana in a Nutshell (2005) Documentary featurette
• Rest Stop (2005) Short, director

Liang is married to Stephen Harris, the subject of Banana in a Nutshell.[17] They have two children.[16]

• SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year (2005)[18]
• Best Director of Documentary Films — Asian Festival of First Films[7]
• Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award (2012)[5]

• Roseanne Liang at IMDb
• Interview about My Wedding and Other Secrets