Mengyuan Li

Mengyuan Li is a writer-director from Beijing, China. He earned his B.A in political science from Yale University and has worked across China/U.S film industries as a screenwriter/creative producer. He optioned his first feature script The Gamechanger, a coming-of-age drama, to Sony Pictures Asia. He wrote for multiple TV Shows, web series, and co-wrote/developed several feature screenplays.

At Columbia, he worked closely with his advisor Andy Bienen, serving as a mentor for Prof. Bienen’s Elements of Dramatic Narrative course for two years. He also served as a teaching assistant for Prof. Robert King (Intro to Film and Media Studies), Prof. Nico Baumbach (The Documentary Tradition), and Prof. James Schamus (American Film: The Western). 

A recipient of the Katharina Otto-Bernstein Thesis Mentorship grant, Mengyuan wrote and directed his portfolio film Mother, a psychological thriller, set in upstate New York. The film is currently in post-production.