2025 Full Frame Tribute Honors Jean Tsien

DURHAM, N.C. – The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is proud to honor award-winning editor and producer Jean Tsien with the 2025 Full Frame Tribute. A curated selection from her significant body of work will screen at the 27^th annual festival, taking place April 3-6, in Durham.

“We are thrilled to recognize Jean Tsien with this year’s Full Frame Tribute,” said Full Frame Festival Co-Director and Artistic Director Sadie Tillery. “We have been honored to showcase Jean’s films at the festival over the years—the incredible care and precision she brings to each story is evident throughout her body of work, as an editor, writer, and producer. Jean is known for her warmth and for the ways she prioritizes human connection, and so in honoring her we also celebrate documentary as a collective art form rooted in collaboration and relationships between makers.”

“It is such a great honor to receive the Full Frame Tribute from one of my favorite film festivals in the world,” said Tsien. “Each film is an opportunity to pay tribute to the talented collaborators I’ve worked with. They’re also a chance to revisit the kinds of stories that, today, are just as relevant as they were thirty years ago. I hope it can serve as a reminder that what we do matters, and our work is never done.”

The Full Frame Tribute will include a screening of Travis, which received Full Frame’s very first Grand Jury Award in 1998, along with more recent work, including 76 Days, which captures the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China; aka MR. CHOW, which examines the life of famed restauranteur Michael Chow; and The Apollo, which chronicles the legacy of the legendary New York theater. The Full Frame Tribute will also feature two episodes of the landmark series Asian Americans, released in 2020, which Tsien executive produced.

Tsien continued, “Full Frame has always had a special place in my heart. I edited a film called Travis, about a boy growing up with full-blown HIV/AIDS in the South Bronx during the ’90s. It screened at the first edition of the festival, back when it was still called DoubleTake. It has rarely screened in the 27 years since, so I’m thrilled to be able to celebrate the film and its director, the late Richard Kotuk.”

Tsien will attend the festival and take part in discussions around the screenings. Additional guests will be announced in the coming weeks.

Born in Taiwan and raised in New York, Jean Tsien’s career spans four decades dedicated to elevating underrepresented voices through documentary filmmaking.

Tsien’s notable editing credits include the Oscar®-nominated documentary Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000); Travis (1998), a Peabody Award winner; Plastic China (2016), Golden Horse Award winner for Best Editing; The Apollo (2020), Primetime Emmy® winner for Outstanding Documentary; and aka MR. CHOW (2023), for HBO Documentary Films, which she executive produced, edited, and wrote.

Tsien also executive produced the landmark Peabody-winning PBS series Asian Americans (2020). Her other notable producing credits include: 76 Days (2020), which was awarded a Peabody and the Primetime Emmy® for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking; Free Chol Soo Lee (2022), which premiered at Sundance and won a News and Documentary Emmy®; and Island in Between (2024), an Oscar®-nominee for short documentary.

Tsien’s dedication to mentorship has earned her a well-deserved reputation as a field builder. She is the recipient of the 2018 Art of Editing Mentorship Award from the Sundance Institute, a Lifetime Achievement Award presented at DOC NYC’s 2020 Visionaries Tribute, and the 2021 IDA Pioneer Award. In 2022 Tsien was elected as a governor of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

2025 Full Frame Tribute

76 Days / (Directors: Hao Wu, Weixi Chen; Producers: Hao Wu, Jean Tsien)

On January 23, 2020, China locked down Wuhan, a city of 11 million, to combat the emerging COVID-19 outbreak. Set deep inside the frontlines of the crisis in four hospitals, 76 Days tells indelible human stories of healthcare workers and patients who struggle to survive the pandemic with resilience and dignity.

aka MR. CHOW / (Director: Nick Hooker; Editors: Jean Tsien, Anita H.M. Yu, Eugene Yi)

The documentary aka MR. CHOW  takes viewers on a captivating journey vibrant and varied life of Michael Chow. Born Zhou Yinghua, he triumphed over trauma, loss, and prejudice through acting and art before crafting a new identity as restaurateur Mr. Chow. After decades as a successful businessman and celebrated host to artists, actors, musicians, designers, and models, Mr. Chow has turned to his first love: painting and once again redefined himself—this time, as the artist M.

The Apollo / (Director: Roger Ross Williams; Editors: Jean Tsien, John S. Fisher)

The Apollo chronicles the legacy of New York City’s landmark Apollo Theater, covering the rich history of the storied performance space over its 85 years. What began as a refuge for marginalized artists emerged as a hallowed hall of Black excellence and empowerment. In the film, Williams reflects on the struggle of Black lives in America, the role that art plays in that struggle, and the part the Apollo Theater continues to play in the cultural conversation.

Asian Americans: Episode 4 Generation Rising / (Producer: Grace Lee; Executive Producer: Jean Tsien)

During a time of war and social tumult, a young generation fights for equality in the fields, on campuses and in the culture, and claim a new identity: Asian Americans. The war’s aftermath brings new immigrants and refugees who expand the population and the definition of Asian America.

Asian Americans: Episode 5 Breaking Through / (Producer: Geeta Gandbhir; Executive Producer: Jean Tsien)

At the turn of the new millennium, the national conversation turns to immigration, race, and economic disparity.  As the U.S. becomes more diverse, yet more divided, a new generation of Asian Americans tackle the question, how do we as a nation move forward together?

Travis / (Director: Richard Kotuk; Editor: Jean Tsien)

When we meet Travis Jefferies he is six years old and living with full-blown AIDS. His strong spirit, generous smile, and outgoing personality are belied by the pain and isolation forced upon him by his condition. Poignant and painfully honest, Travis documents the complex life of a vital child born with a terminal disease who, with the help of experimental drug therapy and his grandmother’s love and support, struggles to survive and pursue a happy life.

About Full Frame

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an internationally recognized event that proudly presents the best nonfiction films on the festival circuit each year. Based in Durham, North Carolina, the annual festival gathers thousands of enthusiastic fans from around the world to celebrate the documentary art form, engage in meaningful conversation, and experience the impact of exceptional nonfiction cinema firsthand. The 27th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival takes place April 3–6, 2025.

The festival is a program of Duke University’s  Center for Documentary Studies and receives support from corporate sponsors, private foundations, and individual donors whose generosity provides the foundation that makes the event possible. The 2025 festival is produced through a partnership with Duke Venue and Production Management. The Presenting Sponsor of the festival is Duke University.

To learn more about the mission of Full Frame or how to support Full Frame, visit fullframefest.org.

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