Aisling Chin-Yee

Aisling Chin-Yee (born 1982)^[1] is a Canadian film director, writer, and producer, who works primarily in Montreal and Los Angeles.^[2][3] In addition to her work as a producer, Chin-Yee directed the films The Rest of Us (2019) and No Ordinary Man (2020).^[4][5]

Aisling Chin-Yee
Chin-Yee in 2021
Born	1982 (age 42–43) Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Other names	Ash Chin-Yee
Occupations	Producer director writer
Years active	2008–present

Early life and education

Chin-Yee was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2004, Chin-Yee graduated from Concordia University with a degree in communication studies and a minor in film studies, concentrated in film production, theory, and analysis.^[6]

Career

In 2006, Chin-Yee started her career as associate producer at the National Film Board of Canada. In 2010, she joined Prospector Films as producer.^[7]

Her short film, Sound Asleep (2014), premiered at Lucerne International Film Festival. In 2015, her documentary film, Synesthesia, won best short documentary at the Crossroads Film Festival.^[8] she co-created the #AfterMeToo movement in 2017 along with Mia Kirshner and Freya Ravensbergen that consisted of a symposium, a report, and fund in partnership with the Canadian Women's Foundation.^[9][10]

Chin-Yee's directorial debut feature film, The Rest of Us, starring Heather Graham, Sophie Nélisse and Jodi Balfour, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[11] She was nominated for best feature film editing by the Canadian Cinema Editors in 2020.^[12] In 2020, she co-directed the documentary feature film about Billy Tipton, No Ordinary Man, with Chase Joynt, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[13][14] In 2023, she directed three episodes of the CBC Television series, Plan B.^[15]

She is represented by William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME) and Elevate Entertainment.^[16]

Personal life

Chin-Yee was for some time in the 2010s the romantic partner of the late filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée, who died of arrhythmia on December 25, 2021.^[17] They met in 2015 at the Canadian Governor General's Awards for the Performing Arts.^[18]

Filmography

Year	Title	Writer	Director	Producer	Note
2008	Three Mothers			Y	Short film
2012	Sorry, Rabbi			Y	Short film
2013	Last Woman Standing			Y	Short film
2013	Rhymes for Young Ghouls			Y	Feature film
2014	Sound Asleep	Y	Y	Y	Short film
2015	The Saver			Y	Feature film
2016	Inside These Walls			Y	Documentary
2017	Synesthesia	Y	Y	Y	Documentary
2017	Lost Generation			Y	9 episodes
2019	The Rest of Us		Y		Feature film; also editor
2020	No Ordinary Man	Y	Y		Documentary; co-director with Chase Joynt
2023	Plan B		Y		3 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Result	Award	Category	Work	Ref.
2019	Nominated	Toronto International Film Festival	Best Canadian Feature	The Rest of Us	[19]
2020	Nominated		Best Canadian Feature	No Ordinary Man
	Won	Inside Out Film and Video Festival	Best Canadian Feature		[20]
	Won	Montreal International Documentary Festival	Best Feature		[21]
	Nominated	Philadelphia Film Festival	Best Documentary Feature		[22]
	Nominated	Canadian Cinema Editors	Best Editing in Feature Film	The Rest of Us	[23]
2021	Won	Cleveland International Film Festival	Best Documentary	No Ordinary Man	[24]
	Won	Reelout Queer Film Festival	Best Canadian Film		[25]
	Won	Directors Guild of Canada	Best Picture Editing - Documentary		[26]
	Nominated		Excellence in Documentary
2023	Won		Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television or Mini-Series	Plan B : Episode 5	[27]