M88 has signed Hong Kong director Tang Yi, the winner of the 2021 Cannes short film Palme d’Or for All The Crows in the World.

The Hong Konger and New York University student based her winning 14-minute dark comedy shot and set in mainland China on her own experiences as a teenager. The film, written and directed by Yi, follows an 18-year-old student — Chen Xuanyu in the role of Shengnan — who is invited to a mysterious party by her cousin, only to be launched into a night of adventures among adults.

Yi’s short film also stars Xue Baohe as Jianguo, who starred in Free and Easy, a Special Jury Award winner at Sundance.

After her Cannes win, Yi is set to turn All The Crows in the World into a full-length feature film, in addition to other feature development ideas that M88 will help execute on. Yi is expected to keep telling stories about women, underrepresented groups and social issues captured through a subversive, darkly comedic film lens.

Yi moved from Hong Kong to the U.S. after being admitted into NYU’s Tisch Schoolf the Arts. Yi also won the Jury Award for Narrative Student Short at the 2019 Austin Film Festival, for her student film Black Goat, which was shot in Nepal.

In 2020, Phillip Sun left WME as a partner to join forces with MACRO founder and CEO Charles D. King and launch M88. The full-service representation firm aims to amplify the voices of artists and creators, with Sun leading as president and managing partner as he works with partners Oronde Garrett and Gaby Mena.

Yi is also represented by WME.
Filed under:
Tang Yi