Emma Qian Xu was born in Nantong, China. Following her undergraduate studies, she came to France for graduate school and earned a Master’s Degree in International Business Negotiation in Paris. Later on, Emma pursued her passion for filmmaking parallel to her career in tourism and attended night class at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français. After a year of intensive courses and hands-on shooting every weekend, she then started collaborating with Léopold Dewolf. They co-wrote “The Curtain,” a short film which she also produced. The film subsequently earned an audience award at the international competition of Court Mais Trash in Brussels. Most recently, Emma co-wrote and co-directed, “Nantong Nights,” shot in her hometown in Mandarin and her native dialect. Emma has been based in France for seven years. Trilingual in French, English, and Chinese, she seeks to develop more international coproductions between Europe and Asia.

After growing up in Paris, Léopold Dewolf studied stop-motion animation in London (BA, University of Westminster) and directing in Los Angeles (MFA, USC School of Cinematic Arts), where he was the recipient of the Thomas B. Bush Scholarship for Cinematography. He showcased his work in international film festivals, including in France (Festival Tous Courts, 7ème Lune, Poitiers, Séquence Court-Métrage, Nancy, Contis), Serbia (Küstendorf curated by Emir Kusturica), Spain (Mecal in Barcelona), Belgium (Court Mais Trash in Brussels), Ukraine (Wiz-Art in Lviv), Macedonia (Skopje Film Festival), Azerbaijan (Baku Film
Festival), and the US (USC’s LGBT Film Festival in Los Angeles). His curiosity for other cultures brought him to Peru, where he made a film under the tutelage of Werner Herzog in the Amazonian jungle, and most recently to China, where he co-directed a short film in Mandarin and the local dialect. Léopold also works as a movie trailer editor for CANAL+ and Aparté.