Zhang Mengqi was born in 1987. Lives in Beijing and Diaoyutai Village(Hubei) She graduated from the Dance Academy of Minzu University of China in 2008. Since 2009, she has been a resident filmmaker and choreographer at Caochangdi Workstation in Beijing. In 2010 she participated in The Folk Memory Project.
Since 2010, Mengqi has made nine feature-length documentaries filmed in her father’s village in Hebei Province, known as her ‘self-portrait series’, a decade-long creation between exploring history and illuminating reality, and a film a year, the formation of a unique group of works.Her films have been selected by Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, Visions du Réel, RIDM etc.
Her first film ‘Self-Portrait with Three Women’ was selected as ‘Ten Best Documentary Films’ in the 8th China Independent Film Festival. Her latest film “Self-Portrait: Sphinx in 47 KM” Won the “White Goose Award” in DMZ International Documentary Film Festival.
Her choreographic work was performed in Foundation CULTURESCAPES(Switzerland), Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (France), ImPuls Tanz (Vienna), Eurokaz (Croatia), etc. As a founding member of The Folk Memory Project, Mengqi also participated in the creation of collective theater works, Memory: Hunger (2010), Memory: Monument (2012), Reading Hunger (2016), Reading Father(2019).