Sheldon Chau Biography
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 via a local laserdisc rental store. As a teenager, he discovered that movies went beyond entertainment when both his drama teacher and artist uncle recommended films from the Criterion Collection. After college, Sheldon made a short documentary in which he interviewed his father and learned of his parents’ harrowing journey out of Vietnam as boat people; this cemented his commitment to storytelling through filmmaking.
Sheldon holds a BA from UC Irvine in Film Studies and an MFA from NYU Tisch in directing and cinematography. Sheldon’s work has screened at top festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice, and Berlin. His recent credits as cinematographer include Demba - which premiered at this year’s Berlinale; Nafi’s Father - Senegal’s official entry to the 2021 Oscars - and Enmity Djinn - an episode of Netflix’s African Folktales Reimagined anthology.
Sheldon is the winner of the ARRI Volker Bahnemann Award for Cinematography, a Visual Communications AWC Fellow, and part of the ASC Vision Mentorship program. As a director, his short film Flying Eggs was a 2021 Slamdance Film Festival selection and latest work In Max We Trust can be seen on YouTube’s Omeleto short film channel. Sheldon has specialized in shooting internationally, working with diverse colleagues, and balancing both large- and guerrilla-sized crews.
As a filmmaker, he continues to seek stories that are evocative, personal, and emotionally resonant.
