Jackie Shijie Xing Enters the Cinematic Arena with Greatness

Written by Tom White

Shijie Xing, or Jackie, as he would like people to call him, is a young, talented director with the potential and drive to achieve cinematic excellence. On top of earning the trust of many actors and crews, he has also won accolades for his outstanding films.

Originally from Beijing, Jackie moved to New York in 2019 to attend film school. He graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 2023 with a BFA in Film and Television. During his enrollment, he took on many directorial roles.

Jackie is an award-winning director, and many of his pieces have been featured at highly esteemed festivals. He has written and directed mini-series, music videos, advertisements, and short films.

Dregs, Jackie’s NYU thesis film, was handpicked by the HollyShorts Film Festival and the BronzeLens Film Festival, two Oscar-qualifying festivals.

Beyond Farewell is a narrative music video chosen by 19 prestigious film festivals, including the Cinequest, Flicker’s Rhode Island International, and Athens International Film and Video Festival. This musical won the Prize of Youth Jury Award at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, one of Europe’s top three short film events.

A Love by Fate, one of his mini-series set to debut on top streaming platforms, cordially gave rise to more mini-series opportunities because of his adequate reputation. He views this project as the start of his professional directing career because it proved him capable of handling substantial projects.

In only three production days, Jackie directed SNAFU, an independently funded action comedy proof of concept short film, in hopes of making his TV debut. As the first action comedy he has directed, he is proud of his work due to his flexible nature in directing projects of various sizes. SNAFU is in the editing room and is projected to finish in September.

Jackie has constructed a strong directorial vision through his diverse filmmaking skills. Before his junior year in college, he aspired to be a cinematographer. He also has taken on roles as a videographer, an editor, a gaffer, and a writer, indicating his broad range of expertise and ability to handle various situations.

Although Jackie did not initially train to be a director, he discovered a natural talent for the role through his extensive expertise in other areas. His ability to envision the entire film and feel the rhythm of the edit while reading and writing scripts allowed him to construct a complete film even before production began mentally.

Patrick McGuiness, an actor who has collaborated with Jackie, acknowledged Jackie’s ability to answer the cast and crew’s questions while under stress. Patrick believes this quality makes Jackie stand out above many other directors. According to Jackie, no crew or actor has refused to work with him again, demonstrating his core qualities of being a personable director who makes his coworkers feel safe.

Jackie has utilized the Meisner technique, assisting his cast in exploring their characters and backgrounds and refining performance through physicality. His essential goal is to align his actors with his directorial goals while giving them control.

Jackie’s short-term goal in his professional directing career is to land more contracts as a director and cultivate a positive reputation throughout the directorial realm. He desires to explore his directing style and foster an expanding audience as a feature film director. He is currently creating a feature screenplay and a TV pilot with hopes of debuting his feature or a TV show in the next three years. Jackie will take advantage of every opportunity to direct more films and TV shows and learn from his developmental experiences.

Photo Credit: Jackie Shijie Xing

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