cadenza.zhao@gmail.com

Cadenza Zhao is a Swiss-born writer-director of Chinese heritage, making both fictional and documentary films, graduate of the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Germany.

Coming from the French part of Switzerland and raised in a Chinese family of musicians, she is a bridge between cultures and aims to attract audiences closer to one another through the stories she brings to screen.

She is an Executive Committee Member of SWAN (Swiss Women’s Audiovisual Network) since 2023 and is currently based between Berlin and Switzerland. Her previous work include “Vibrations –  Inner Music” which premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto, Max Ophüls Preis and recently won the prize for Best Documentary at the Manhattan International Film Festival. 

Her graduation film, the dystopian science fiction “Ewigkeit in einem Traum” was broadcasted on ZDF / 3sat in November 2024 in the DACH region and is available in the ZDF Mediathek. 

Her latest work, “The Lover,” a dramatic comedy about sex as a coping mechanism for grief, is set to premiere in 2025.

Filmography:

• The Lover / short fiction, dramatic comedy / 2025 / as director, writer
• Ewigkeit in einem Traum (Eternity in a Dream) / short fiction, sci-fi / 2024 / as director
• Vibrations – Inner Music / short documentary / 2022 / as director

Festivals and Awards:

• Vibrations – Inner Music / International Film Festival Manhattan / Short Competition / New York, USA / 2023 / Best Documentary Prize
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Reframe Film Festival / Official Selection / Peterborough, Canada / 2023
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Edimotion Festival for Film Editing / Short Film Competition / Cologne, Germany / 2022 / The Edit Space Prize for Best Editing
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival / Nominee for Best Short Documentary / Toronto, Canada / 2022 / Nomination
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Guelph Film Festival / Official Selection / Guelph, Canada / 2022
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Zinebi – Bilbao International Festival of Documentary / Special Programme Screening / Bilbao, Spain / 2022
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival / Shortlist Section / Saarbrücken, Germany / 2022
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival / Short Documentary Competition / Potsdam, Germany / 2022
• Vibrations – Inner Music / Sinédoque / Official Selection / Brazil / 2022