Shu Zhu is a Chinese Canadian director whose work spans narrative films, animation, and immersive media, often exploring psychological transformation, shifting identities, and environmental collapse through a genre-forward lens. His ongoing transmedia project, Ash Valley (2018 - present), centered on the residents of a decaying oilfield under the influence of strange cosmic phenomena, spans across different mediums, each featuring different characters within the interwoven narrative universe. VR film, Echos of Ash Valley, premiered at Venice International Film Festival in 2024 as an immersive installation. Short film, Ash Valley: Janyl, supported by Canada Council for the Arts, premiered at 2024 Busan International Film Festival in competition.
His earlier work Border (2019), a meditation on the US-Mexico border crisis through the lens of a forensic worker, was an official selection of the 2020 Telluride Film Festival. Short film Moth (2018), which follows the unraveling of an Asian American actress in Hollywood, screened at over 35 international film festivals and institutions such as LA Shorts International Film Festival, the National Museum of Art in Mexico, the National Film Archive of India, and Jia Zhangke Art Center. The Man Who Fell (2016), a surreal tale of otherworldly encounter between a hunter and a bird, was selected by the Chinese Independent Film Festival and toured 25 cities in China as part of the “Qi Fang” （齐放） Screening Series.
In 2023, Shu was among the first wave of directors working in the emerging medium of vertical short drama in North America. He has since directed 16 series across major platforms including Reelshort, Dramabox, KalosTV, ShortMax, Dreame, and Shot Short, with total views exceeding 350 million. His flagship series, We Will Love Again, generated over 110 million views and helped drive more than 300,000 app installs in a single day, making it one of the most commercially successful vertical dramas in Q1 of 2024.
Shu’s work also bridges into animation and emerging technology. He contributed to Wild Dog (2019), a Tencent AAA demo collaborated with House of Moves (Titanic, Iron Man 3, Kong: Skull Island), supporting layout development and participating in motion capture production for in-game cinematic sequences. He later served as Creative Director at Shanghai Moge Technologies, where he led the development of a cyberpunk animation series.
In 2021, Shu was selected as a fellow in the Friends with Benefits (FWB) fellowship, focusing on the intersection of arts, technology, and new media ecosystems. He served as a jury for the short film competition at the 2023 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, an Academy Award-Qualifying festival, and has spoken on numerous panels and lectures about the future of storytelling, vertical media, and immersive formats.
Shu is a graduate from American Film Institute’s MFA Directing Program, with a BFA in Film and TV Production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Shu currently works and lives in Los Angeles and Vancouver.