Arvin Chen is a Taiwanese American film writer and director best known for his film, Au Revoir Taipei

Au Revoir Taipei

Au Revoir Taipei is a 2010 Taiwanese romantic comedy film set in Taipei. Au Revoir Taipei is called "One Page Taipei" in Chinese which means one night or one page in Taipei. Au Revoir Taipei is Arvin Chen's feature directorial debut...

, a Mandarin romantic comedy film set in Taipei

Taipei

Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

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Early life

Chen was born and raised in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. His parents were immigrants from Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. He was born in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, grew up mostly in Foster City in the Bay Area and attended U.C. Berkeley majoring in architecture. In 2006, he earned a MFA

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 in film production at the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

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Career

After graduating from college, he moved to Taiwan in 2001 where he obtained a job working for director Edward Yang

Edward Yang

Edward Yang , along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang, was one of the leading filmmakers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi .-Biography:...

, who he describes “is kind of a family friend”. It was this experience working in Taiwan cinema that reaffirmed his interest in film-making. Soon after, he enrolled in film school between 2003 to 2006 at the University of Southern California, where he made his first short film MEI. It won the 2007 Silver Bear in Berlin’s International Short Film Competition.

Chen went on to work on his first feature length film, Au Revoir Taipei. Although he wasn’t fluent in Mandarin, his friends had helped him with some translation for the script. The script writing process was one of the challenges he experienced in this field. Au Revoir Taipei won the Best Asian Film Award from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) at the Berlin International Film Festival

Berlin International Film Festival

The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

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Chen is now working on his latest project, Nan Jing East Road, a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of Taiwan’s economic boom in the 1980s.