The lessons alum Bing Liu brought from UIC to filmmaking 

Before Bing Liu became an Academy Award-nominated director, he was simply a young Chinese immigrant from Rockford, Illinois, who transferred to UIC and found the tools that would lead him to success. 

Liu’s career took off when his debut documentary, “Minding the Gap,” which follows three young men in Rockford who bond over skateboarding to escape their volatile family life, was nominated for an Oscar in 2019. Then, in 2021, Liu and his co-director won the Tribeca Festival jury award for best cinematography for a documentary feature for their Chicago-based movie, “All These Sons” about two men who help others avoid gun violence. He also worked as a director for the documentary series, “America to Me.” 

As he travels the country to promote his latest movie and first dramatic feature, “Preparation for the Next Life,” Liu spoke with UIC today about the impact the university has had on him and the “passionate” faculty members who taught him the skills that made him a successful storyteller.  

Setting the groundwork 

Those skills include journalistic reflexivity — journalists’ ability to turn their focus inward to scrutinize their personal beliefs. His study of literature about the Asian American experience and his discovery of how knowledge flows between teachers and students, or in his case, a director and an audience, also influence his filmmaking.  

At UIC, he tutored ESL students in UIC’s writing center, an experience that taught him how to bring out people’s inner voices, he said. He also worked as a communications coordinator for the Asian American Resource and Cultural Center, where he saw the value for students of Asian descent of creating a space to commune with one another.  

“These experiences, even though I didn’t know it yet, taught me how to collaborate, navigate complex situations and stay true to my creative voice in a competitive and sometimes chaotic industry,” Liu said. 

He graduated from UIC with honors in 2011 and received an Alumni Achievement Award in 2019. 

His current film, “Preparation for the Next Life,” which opened on Sept. 5 in theaters and is available to stream, is distributed by Amazon MGM Studios and was produced by actor Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B. It is an adaptation of a novel of the same title by Atticus Lish about a Uyghur migrant, Aishe, in New York, who is trying to live the American Dream and falls in love with an American soldier, Skinner.  

Liu said his goal with the movie and all his films is to pay homage “to the outsiders, the downtrodden” by tapping into his own life and background. He wants to reach viewers who feel left behind by the world and celebrate their determination to fight. 

In his latest film, his aim was to protect others from growing up in the same turbulent and violent upbringing he, his brother and mother had to endure at the hands of an abusive stepfather. 

“I saw in Aishe the story of my mother, who also immigrated to the States and worked her way up in Chinese restaurants while falling headfirst into several relationships,” said Liu. “I saw in Skinner the many young men who I grew up with in my Rustbelt hometown in Illinois, who were forced to grow up too fast and were never taught how to love.” 

Advice to others 

When Liu arrived at UIC, he already had earned his associate degree from Rock Valley College in Rockford. He wasn’t sure yet what he wanted to do with his life, so he started as an English education major before switching to English literature.  

He became passionate about trying to make a difference in the world through his writing. His first pieces of fiction were published in the student-run Red Shoes Review literary magazine at UIC, and they gave him the boost he needed to keep writing and creating.  

“There were so many instances where, just with a little positive reinforcement as small as a passing comment or an encouraging note written on my homework, I was able to believe in myself and the potential for what my life could become,” said Liu. 

Success hasn’t always been an easy road, and most of filmmaking comes down to “failure and rejection,” Liu said. But his passion for filmmaking has sustained him, he added. That drive comes down to what he learned at UIC: how to tell a story that can make the world a better place. 

“What matters more than accolades, fame or other metrics of ‘success’ is why you’re doing what you’re doing,” said Liu. “If your motivation is pure of heart and you have a goal that is bigger than yourself, that’s something that no metric can take away from you and your work.” 

“Preparation for the Next Life” is available to watch on Amazon, Apple, Fandango At Home and Plex online as well as in theaters.