Domee Shi

Countries: Canada / China / United States
Born: 1989

Films directed by Domee Shi

Bao (2018)
Turning Red (2022) (also known as: "Alerte rouge", "Crvena panda", "Keď sa červenám", "Over de rooie", "Pirula Panda", "Proměna", "Punainen", "Raudonoji panda", "Red", "Red: Crescer é uma Fera", "Rot", "Rød", "To nie wypanda", "Turning Red: Estranhamente Vermelho")

Quotes by Domee Shi

"Growing up, I loved Disney movies and Western animation, but I also love Japanese anime. Being at the center of these different cultures, I grabbed things that I liked from each of them, and that helped me form my voice, my point of view, and my sense of humor, too. I was one of the few people in the story department [at Pixar] that had that specific background and had more exposure to different stories, movies, and cartoons. Being that immigrant kid caught between two worlds, it turned into an advantage."
-- Domee Shi (source)

"I feel this responsibility to pay forward all of the opportunities and support that I've gotten and make sure that I'm not the last female filmmaker or filmmaker of colour [at Pixar], and that we continue telling and supporting diverse stories at the studio and in the industry."
-- Domee Shi (source)

"In high school, I was really into this supernerdy online community called DeviantArt. I could follow artists, and I could email them. In the past, you'd have to be in California or know a guy who was friends with this other guy that worked at Disney or something. Online art communities are probably a huge reason that you're seeing a lot more girls getting into animation and illustration"
-- Domee Shi (source)

"When I first joined Pixar in 2011, I was one of a handful of women in the story department, one of four in a group of 30 or 40. Now, being on a movie with a predominantly female creative leadership [Turning Red] in the span of 10 years, that in and of itself is kind of crazy. Especially because it takes five or six years to make a movie here."
-- Domee Shi (source)

Quote about Domee Shi

"[Domee Shi's] visual language is classic Pixar, all bubbly shapes and expressive faces, but thematically, she hearkens back to vintage Disney, which happens to be Pixar's parent company. The Disney films we all grew up watching were concerned with transformation: Ariel's fishtail forking into legs, Cinderella's rags swirling into a sparkling gown, the Beast mutating from lovable ogre into Baywatch hunk. Shi's films continue that tradition, drawing on fairy tales and her Chinese-Canadian culture to excavate her characters' personal evolutions through magical, monstrous physical transformations. She specializes in the kinds of visual tricks that can only be done with animation, where a dumpling can sprout arms and legs and a roly-poly belly, where a puff of pink smoke changes a teen girl into a shaggy ursine beast."
-- Emily Landau (source)

For QUOTES about a specific film by Domee Shi, please see: Bao Turning Red

Notes about Domee Shi

Born in Chongqing, China; immigrated to Canada when she was two years old; grew up in Toronto.
Studied at Sheridan College, in Ontario (Bachelor of Animation, 2011).
Moved to Oakland, California.

(sources)

Bibliography for Domee Shi

Section 1: Publications about Domee Shi

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Landau, Emily. "The animated life of Domee Shi." Toronto Life, March 2022.

Section 2: Publications about the Films of Domee Shi

Bao (2018)

Journal Articles

Barton, Georgina, Yijun Hu, and Nathan Lowien. "A Critical Semiotic Investigation of Asian Stereotypes in the Short Film Bao: Implications for Classroom Practice." Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 44, no. 1 (2021): 5-16.
Yang, Tianyu, and Hailing Yu. "Loving Mother vs. Controlling Mother: Visual Attitude and Reading Positions in the Short Film Bao." Social Semiotics (May 12, 2020): 1-19.

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Ahearn, Victoria. "Shout-out to 'nerdy girls'; Bao team leads Canadian contingent at the Oscars." Montreal Gazette, February 26, 2019.
Chan, Julia B. "The Tao of Bao: Director Domee Shi remixes cultures into magic." Interview with Domee Shi. Mother Jones, vol. 4, no. 3, May 2019.
Hertz, Barry. "Canadian animators draw Oscar's attention." Globe and Mail, January 23, 2019.
Idelson, Karen. "A mouth-watering short." Interview with Domee Shi. Animation Magazine, vol. 32, no. 6, June-July 2018.
Knight, Chris. "Food for thought: Domee Shi's Pixar short looks at family life with the help of a dumpling." Interview with Domee Shi. Calgary Herald, June 15, 2018.
Liu, Karon. "Pixar's new animated short pays tribute to moms, Chinese food and Toronto." Interview with Domee Shi. Toronto Star, June 12, 2018.
Roper, Caitlin. "Domee Shi thinks kids can handle dark stories." Interview with Domee Shi. New York Times, July 29, 2018.
Soto, Kaly. "The Creator of 'Bao' on That Twist: 'Part of Me Wanted to Shock Audiences'." Interview with Domee Shi. New York Times, June 30, 2018.
Wheeler, Brad. "Toronto's Domee Shi on her big Oscar win, Pixar's changing culture and her 'nerdy girls' speech; The Chinese-Canadian animator says she wrote up her well-received acceptance speech the night before the Academy Awards ceremony." Interview with Domee Shi. Globe and Mail, February 28, 2019.

Turning Red (2022) (also known as: "Alerte rouge", "Crvena panda", "Keď sa červenám", "Over de rooie", "Pirula Panda", "Proměna", "Punainen", "Raudonoji panda", "Red", "Red: Crescer é uma Fera", "Rot", "Rød", "To nie wypanda", "Turning Red: Estranhamente Vermelho")

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Ahsan, Sadaf. "'Turning Red' is a 'love letter' to Asian Canadian girls, says director Domee Shi." Toronto Star, March 9, 2022.
Barnes, Brooks. "Animated to achieve more." New York Times, March 9, 2022.
Blistein, Jon. "Billie Eilish and Finneas lend their talents to fictional boy band in 'Turning Red'." Rolling Stone, November 17, 2021.
Bonneau, Danielle. "Fière de ses origines asiatiques; Sandra Oh dans Turning Red." Interview with Sandra Oh. La Presse, March 9, 2022. [in French]
Brown, Tracy. "How boy bands and anime inspired Pixar's magical must-see 'Turning Red'." Interview with Domee Shi. Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2022.
Bouchard, Geneviève. "Alerte rouge : Domee Shi ouvre des portes chez Pixar." Interview with Domee Shi. Le Soleil (Québec), March 10, 2022. [in French]
Chang, Justin. "Review: With the charming 'Turning Red,' Pixar unleashes teenage panda-monium." Review of Turning Red. Los Angeles Times, March 7, 2022.
Collin, Robbie. "'Complete embarrassment and shock': how Turning Red pushed Disney out of its comfort zone." Daily Telegraph (UK), March 5, 2022.
Collin, Robbie. "Pixar tackles a taboo with charm, sensitivity and lots of laughs." Review of Turning Red. Daily Telegraph (UK), March 8, 2022.
DeBruge, Peter. "'Turning Red' review: A growing girl becomes a red panda. So where's the problem?" Review of Turning Red. Variety, March 7, 2022.
Feeney, Mark. "Meilin in the middle." Review of Turning Red. Boston Globe, March 10, 2022.
Gao, Rebecca. "Turning Red's director Domee Shi talks periods, puberty and Asian representation." Interview with Domee Shi. Chatelaine, March 9, 2022.
Gerber, Dana. "'Why was it ever not normal?'." Boston Globe, March 10, 2022.
Gonzales, Christina. "With 'Turning Red,' Domee Shi wants to tell the story of your childhood." Maclean's, February 23, 2022.
Greenblatt, Leah. "Turning Red review: Pixar grows up, gets panda'd in its joyful tween-centered latest." Review of Turning Red. Entertainment Weekly, March 7, 2022.
Havis, Richard James. "When adolescence is too much to bear; Pixar's Turning Red is an animated feature made by an all-female creative team about teen angst in Toronto's Chinatown. Its director hopes it serves as a guide to growing up." Interview with Domee Shi. South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), March 10, 2022.
Hertz, Barry. "How Toronto's Domee Shi shattered Pixar's glass ceiling into a thousand tiny CGI shards; With the release of her debut feature, Turning Red, Canadian filmmaker Domee Shi becomes the first woman to solo direct a Pixar film." Interview with Domee Shi. Globe and Mail, March 10, 2022.
Hertz, Barry. "Turning Red is top-tier Pixar, no matter your love or hate for Toronto; The city of Toronto features prominently in Pixar's upcoming film, Turning Red, and what a wild ride it is." Review of Turning Red. Globe and Mail, March 10, 2022.
Hontebeyrie, Isabelle. "Alerte rouge : la fierté d'être une fille." Review of Turning Red. Journal de Montréal, March 8, 2022. [in French]
Howell, Peter. "Pixar back with delightful panda-monium." Review of Turning Red. Toronto Star, March 10, 2022.
Hullender, Tatiana. "Domee Shi & Lindsey Collins interview: Turning Red." Interview with Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins. Screen Rant, February 8, 2022.
Jamet, Constance. "Alerte rouge sur Disney + : comment le panda roux est devenu le symbole de l'adolescence." Interview with Domee Shi. Le Figaro, March 12, 2022. [in French]
Kiang, Jessica. "'Turning Red': Pixar tackles puberty and gives us one for the ages, period." Review of Turning Red. Rolling Stone, March 10, 2022.
Knight, Chris. "Animated memories; Award-winning filmmaker draws on her childhood for first feature." Interview with Domee Shi, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. National Post, March 10, 2022.
Lee, Benjamin. "Turning Red review—pandas and pop music collide in solid Pixar caper." Review of Turning Red. Guardian, March 7, 2022.
Lévesque, François. "«Alerte rouge» : un monstre à soi." Review of Turning Red. Le Devoir, March 11, 2022. [in French]
Loughrey, Clarisse, and Adam White. "Teenage rampage." Review of Turning Red. Independent (U.K.), March 11, 2022.
Lui, John. "At The Movies; Panda-monium brought on by growing pains." Review of Turning Red. The Straits Times (Singapore), March 10, 2022.
Lui, John. "Storytelling gold in Turning Red." Interview with Domee Shi. The Straits Times (Singapore), March 10, 2022.
Macdonald, Moira. "'Turning Red' review: Pixar unleashes a big, fluffy, colorful gem." Review of Turning Red. Seattle Times, March 9, 2022.
Maher, Kevin. "Turning Red review—Pixar's menstruation adventure is ingenious and deeply lovely." Review of Turning Red. Times (London), March 8, 2022.
McClintock, Pamela. "'Everyone is really bummed out' over Pixar's third straight-to-streaming film." Hollywood Reporter, January 21, 2022.
Morgenstern, Joe. "'Turning Red' review: Showing your true colors; In addition to dealing with the perplexities of adolescence, a 13-year-old girl in Pixar's latest must cope with controlling her inner panda." Review of Turning Red. Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2022.
Moyer, Melinda Wenner. "'Turning Red' Is a Good Conversation Starter—and Not Just for Girls: Some parents don't like its depictions of adolescent rebellion, periods and sexuality, but experts say those topics are appropriate for family discussion." New York Times, March 16, 2022.
O'Sullivan, Charlotte. "Turning Red movie review: Pixar's latest is brave, ambitious fun (so give it a cinema release, you cowards!)." Review of Turning Red. Evening Standard (London), March 8, 2022.
O'Sullivan, Michael. "Pixar's 'Turning Red' is a brilliant, hilarious follow-up to Oscar-winning short 'Bao'." Washington Post, March 9, 2022.
Pandell, Lexi. "Learning to love your inner panda." Interview with Domee Shi. New York Times, February 27, 2022.
Phillips, Maya. "'Turning Red' review: beware the red-furred monster." Review of Turning Red. New York Times, March 10, 2022.
Puchko, Kristy. "'Turning Red' review: Imagine if Pixar made 'Pen15'." Review of Turning Red. Mashable, March 11, 2022.
Rubin, Josh. "Toronto plays itself in 'Turning Red,' Disney Pixar's new film arriving in March." Toronto Star, July 13, 2021.
Ryu, Jenna. "Puberty, periods and parent problems: How 'Turning Red' tackles growing up with a cultural spin." Interview with Domee Shi, Julia Cho. USA Today, March 10, 2022.
Sblendorio, Peter. "Seeing red panda: Coming-of-age movie with Asians at the center." Interview with Sandra Oh, Rosalie Chiang. Daily News (New York), March 7, 2022.
Sharf, Zack. "Pixar staffer 'extremely disappointed' at Disney for streaming 'Turning Red': 'It's quite a blow'." Variety, January 11, 2022.
Sims, David. "Turning Red is Pixar's cleverest film in years." Review of Turning Red. The Atlantic, March 9, 2022.
Sumi, Glenn. "Domee Shi's Pixar love letter to Toronto: The Oscar-winning director puts the city on the animation map with her semi-autobiographical new film Turning Red." Interview with Domee Shi. Now (Toronto), March 2, 2022.
Truitt, Brian. "'Red' reveals new shades of puberty for young girls." Review of Turning Red. USA Today, March 8, 2022.
Wong, Madison. "From TTC Metropasses to the CN Tower: 11 Toronto sightings featured in Pixar's 'Turning Red'." Toronto Star, March 11, 2022.