Bio — Sheldon Chau

ABOUT ME

Born in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, Sheldon developed a passion for movies as a child when his dad brought home Jackie Chan films from a local laserdisc store. As a teenager, he then discovered that movies went beyond entertainment when he was introduced to films from the Criterion Collection, which gave him a new appreciation for the medium.

After college, Sheldon made a short documentary in which he interviewed his father and learned of his parents’ harrowing journey out of Vietnam as part of the Chinese diaspora of boat people who fled the war; this cemented his commitment to storytelling. Sheldon holds a BA from UC Irvine in Film Studies and an MFA from NYU Tisch in filmmaking.

Sheldon has screened at A-list festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice, and Berlin. He recently served as an additional cinematographer on Kogonada’s zi - which premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Fest. Sheldon is the winner of the ARRI Volker Bahnemann Award for Cinematography, a Visual Communications AWC Fellow, an ASC Vision Mentorship mentee, and a 2026 Berlinale Talent.

Sheldon has specialized in shooting internationally and working with crews of all sizes. He loves immersing in new cultures and exploring history, and continues to seek stories that are evocative and personal. He also loves eating pineapple buns, collecting physical media (blu-rays), and is a proud dad to a perfect 9-year-old rescue pug named Muzzy.

FAVORITE FILMS