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![Sun Moon Rising]( "Sun Moon Rising")
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![Sun Moon Rising]( "Sun Moon Rising")
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![How to Dance]( "How to Dance")
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![How to Dance]( "How to Dance")
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![Sun Moon Rising]( "Sun Moon Rising")
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An intimate portrait of London’s East and South East Asian clubbing community, a world in which the allure of raving, fashion, and hyperpop becomes an affirmation of love, acceptance, and joy.
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![Midnight Rising]( "Midnight Rising")
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![Midnight Rising]( "Midnight Rising")
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![beast]( "beast")
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![I Didn't Dare to Speak]( "I Didn't Dare to Speak")
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![I Didn't Dare to Speak]( "I Didn't Dare to Speak")
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![beast]( "beast")
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![beast]( "beast")
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Aileen Ye is an experimental filmmaker and visual artist from Dublin.
Aileen Ye is a filmmaker and visual artist from Dublin. Her work combines multiple mediums, exploring contemporary subcultures, movement practices, and diasporic histories.
Her films have screened at BAFTA and BIFA-qualifying festivals like BFI London Film Festival and Aesthetica, as well as venues including the BFI, Barbican, NOWNESS Asia, and LUX.
She holds an MSc in Sociology from Erasmus University Rotterdam, specialising in decolonial aesthetics and autoethnographic cinema. She is an artist member of Filmwerkplaats based in Rotterdam.
Websites
Professional Website
aileenye.com/Social media
Member of Artists’ Initiative/Collective/Incubator
Filmwerkplaats
Curriculum vitae
Education
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Self-taught
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2022 - 2022A24 Mentorship Programme A24
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2021 - 2021Decolonial Summer School Horse Hospital
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2021 - 2021DIY 16mm Filmwerkplaats, WORM
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2019 - 2020MSc Sociology Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam diploma
exhibitions
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2025Rotterdam Art Fair: Prospects Rotterdam Ahoy Rotterdam, Netherlands Showcasing moving-image work 'beast' www.mondriaanfonds.nl/profiel/aileen-ye/ Group
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2024BFI London Film Festival Institute of Contemporary Art London, United Kingdom Official selection screening of 'Midnight Rising' Solo
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2024Aesthetica Film Festival York, United Kingdom Official selection screening of 'Midnight Rising' - Documentary Competition Solo
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2024Ann Arbor Film Festival Michigan Theatre Ann Arbor, United States Official selection screening of 'Midnight Rising' - Official Competition Solo
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2024Norwich Film Festival Norwich, United Kingdom Official selection screening of 'Midnight Rising' - Documentary Competition www.norwichfilmfestival.co.uk/films/official-selection-2024/midnight-rising/ Solo
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2024Leeds International Film Festival Leeds, United Kingdom Official selection screening of 'Midnight Rising' - British Shorts Competition Solo
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2024CinemAsia Film Festival CinemAsia Amsterdam, Netherlands Dutch premiere of film 'Midnight Rising' Solo
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2023Sounds From the Second Floor Celestial Festival Berlin, Germany Screening of 'I Didn't Dare to Speak' and 'beast' as part of short film programme with Q+A yeoja-mag.com/celestial-festival-2023/ Solo
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2023Skate Film Short Competition Roffa Mon Amour Rotterdam, Netherlands Winner of the Skate Film Short Competition with film 'I Didn't Dare to Speak' roffamonamour.com/screenings/your-favourite-skate-film/ Solo
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2023Skatepark Theater Rotterdam Rotterdam, Netherlands Live skatepark event with screenings of 'I Didn't Dare to Speak' www.theaterrotterdam.nl/agenda/10651/mette-ingvartsen-dk/skatepark Group
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2023XPOSED Film Festival 2023 XPOSED Festival Berlin, Germany Official festival selection for screening of 'beast' xposedfilmfestival.com/2023/films/shorts-5-how-to-get-more-followers/ Solo
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2023FACT FACT Liverpool, United Kingdom Film screening of 'beast' Solo
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2023Positions: Afterlives Stroom The Hague, Netherlands Film screening of 'beast' stroom.nl/activiteiten/manifestatie.php?m_id=3817492 Group
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2022Sinema Transtopia: Stories from the Periphery bi'bak Berlin, Germany Screening and Q+A for film 'I Didn't Dare to Speak' bi-bak.de/en/bi-bakino/stories-from-the-periphery Group
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2022NOWNESS Asia x Movement Festival NOWNESS Asia World premiere of 'beast' showcased on NOWNESS Asia and Eaton HK. www.nowness.asia/playlist/64877/movement-festival-2022-a-void Solo
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2022Remembering Place esea Contemporary Manchester, United Kingdom The programme explored how artists reimagine post-colonial Asia, migration, family and friendship. cfcca.org.uk/exchanges-open-house-people-place-space/ Group
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2021Queer Diasporas Nieuwe Vide Haarlem, Netherlands Premiere of moving-image 'I Didn't Dare to Speak' nieuwevide.com/expositie/queer-diasporas/?lang=en Group
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2021Haarlem Kunstlijn Haarlem , Netherlands Screening of 'I Didn't Dare to Speak' haarlemtownqueers.nl/Kunstlijn-2021 Group
Projects
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2025
Sun Moon Rising Amsterdam, Netherlands aileenye.com/SMR-2025 An exploration of movement and the body as a site for paralanguage, ancestral chambers, and the beautiful ugliness contained in physical euphoria. Through the body, the film explores the contemporaneous connection between pasts, present, and futures, encoded in the natural elements we share.
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2024
Midnight Rising London, United Kingdom aileenye.com/Midnight-Rising-2024 Midnight Rising is an intimate portrait of London’s East and South East Asian clubbing community, a world in which the allure of raving, extravagance, and hyperpop becomes an affirmation of love, acceptance, and joy. This world-within-a-world is instantly familiar - filled with ambitions, desires, and yearnings that reflect the joy and resistance of today.
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2022
beast The Hague, Netherlands aileenye.com/beast-2022 A martial arts inspired dance-fight between a lion dancer and queer performer reflecting the tension between traditional and modern identities in a dreamscape nightmare.
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2022
Spirited Away Vital Capacities Remote, United Kingdom vitalcapacities.com/exhibition/aileen-ye/ An interactive experience of what I assume my digital funeral to look like. The focus of this project is on ‘digital death’ and ‘immortality’ and its erasure of traditional cultural practices and human connection.
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2021
ENTER Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, Netherlands video.enter.hetnieuweinstituut.nl/ Creatively produced a new video conferencing platform for cultural workers. Oversaw artist residencies to create experimental interactive designs on ENTER.
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2021
I Didn't Dare to Speak Rotterdam, Netherlands www.girlsinfilm.net/videos/i-didnt-dare-to-speak Shot on 16mm, this introspective short film celebrates loneliness as one of the most fulfilling parts of growing up, because without it, it asks, how can we truly understand ourselves?
International exchanges/Residencies
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2022Vital Capacities Remote, United Kingdom A one month research and visual arts residency where I focus on ‘digital death’ and ‘immortality’ and its erasure of traditional cultural practices. vitalcapacities.com/exhibition/aileen-ye/
Commissions
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2023Midnight Rising Gorilla Gorilla London, United Kingdom Midnight Rising is an intimate portrait of London’s East and South East Asian clubbing community, a world in which the allure of raving, extravagance, and hyperpop becomes an affirmation of love, acceptance, and joy. This world-within-a-world is instantly familiar - filled with ambitions, desires, and yearnings that reflect the joy and resistance of today. aileenye.com/Midnight-Rising-2024 finished
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2022beast Tong Global The Hague, Netherlands A martial arts inspired dance-fight between a lion dancer and queer performer reflecting the tension between traditional and modern identities in a dreamscape nightmare. vimeo.com/747919492 finished
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2021I Didn't Dare to Speak Nieuwe Vide Haarlem, Netherlands Short film about a teenage skater in Rotterdam, who is skating in and out of life and friendships. vimeo.com/559589168 finished
reviews
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2024SCENE with Aileen Ye on Midnight Rising Blog/Vlog BFI London, United Kingdom www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuCVzTf9E8Q Interview on filmmaking and on film 'Midnight Rising' as part of BFI London Film Festival
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2023Aileen Ye: beast Website The New Current London, United Kingdom www.thenewcurrent.co.uk/beast Interview on film 'beast'
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2022Talent Spotlight: 'beast 怪物' by Aileen Ye Website TONG London, United Kingdom www.tong.global/point-of-view/article/talent-spotlight-beast-by-aileen-ye Article about short film 'beast'.
Awards and grants
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2025Cultuurfonds Voor de Kunst Netherlands
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2024Best International Short Documentary Dublin International Film Festival Dublin, Ireland Competition award for film, 'Midnight Rising'.
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2023Artist Start Mondriaan Fonds, Netherlands Netherlands
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2022FOCUS Award Winner EVCOM Industry Awards London, United Kingdom Designed to celebrate young, diverse creative talent, the FOCUS Award is an award for emerging talent filmmakers.
Secondary art-related activities
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2025 - 2025Jury member for experimental film at NFFTY Festival
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2024 - 2024MUBI Netherlands guest host
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2023 - 2024Film Programmer at Eye Filmmuseum
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2023 - 2023Public lecture on 16mm filmmaking with BA Film students at University of Winchester
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2022 - 2025International guest film curator On-going