Domee Shi is a Chinese-born Canadian Pixar storyboard artist and director. She worked on Inside Out (2015), Incredibles 2 (2018), and Toy Story 4 (2019). She also directed the 2018 Pixar short Bao, which won an Academy Award for Best Short Film that year. She was the first woman to direct a short film for Pixar.
Shi’s father was a huge influence on her artistic career. She learned a lot about the arts, as he was a college professor of fine arts and also a landscape painter in China. She grew up watching Disney animated films, as well as Studio Ghibli films which exposed her to Asian cinema and animation. In high school, her love of anime led her to Vice President of her school’s anime club. Shi attended Sheridan College where she studied animation and developed a love for storyboarding.
Shi began her career at Pixar with a 3 month internship. She was initially turned down by other major animation studios like Disney and Dreamworks. At, she worked on Inside Out and created storyboards for Incredibles 2.
Originally, Bao was just a creative side project for Shi until it was approved in 2015. Her inspiration for the film came from her mother who she says “was always making sure I never wandered away too far, that I was safe”. She was the only child to parents who wanted most of all to protect her. Also, Shi speaks of her love of creating stories involving food. These elements combined led to Bao.
Domee Shi emphasizes the importance of telling stories about different cultures. The importance of Bao is that it tell the story of an Asian family, complete with culturally accurate food and characters. Stories like these are becoming more common, especially in animation. Thanks to Domee Shi, we have films that represent POC, and hopefully will have more in the future as she continues to create her art.
Sources: Wikipedia
Women in Animation 