Kaiwen Li 李凯文 is an award-winning documentary and commercial director, best known to have led the Asian production arms of VICE MEDIA and DISCOVERY CHANNEL in Shanghai, China.

His documentary works have shaped Asia’s youth cultures, covering China’s underground battle rap, drag races and LGBTQ life, avant-garde art scenes. He is a recipient of the Telly Award for Best Docu Series for his show on Discovery China’s Ultimate Caves.

Kaiwen has also created commercial campaigns for top international brands, including Airbnb, P&G, Beats by Dr. Dre, Burberry, SK-II, Intel, Pantene, Burger King, Huawei… and is the recipient of the Chinese Advertising Golden Lion Award.

His first narrative short film - a gripping psychological thriller - “I JUST WANT TO BE WANTED”《孽种》is set to premiere at TAIPEI GOLDEN HORSE FILM FESTIVAL （台北金马影展）- one of the most prestigious film festivals in the Asia. He is the Co-Founder of Homework Productions, Shanghai’s leading production of commercial and documentary content.

Mostly recently, he co-founded tech start-up ChatCut, which seeks to bring the aging video editing system into the age of AI. ChatCut is currently under incubation at Antler, which is the global VC firm investing in the defining technology of tomorrow.

Kaiwen grew up in the northeastern part of China, and went to Rhode Island School of Design. He currently lives and works between Los Angeles and Shanghai.