Domee Shi: Diversity among Oscar Animation Noms Is “What Universal Stories Look Like”

Shi’s debut animated feature earned her a second Oscar nomination, after her 2018 Pixar short Bao.

Sandra Oh and newcomer Rosalie Chiang voiced the mother/daughter duo in Turning Red — Sandra Oh and newcomer Rosalie Chiang voiced the mother-daughter duo in ‘Turning Red.’ COURTESY OF DISNEY/PIXAR

Alot has changed in Domee Shi’s life since she won an Oscar for her 2018 Pixar short Bao, which follows a Chinese Canadian mother with empty-nest syndrome and a sentient steamed bun.

Shi began as story intern at Pixar in 2011 before working as story artist on mentor Pete Docter’s Inside Out. She is a Chinese Canadian with immigrant parents, who has learned to embrace her background as inspiration for stories. That included her debut animated feature, Turning Red, for which she earned her second Oscar nom.

“Four or five years ago, I couldn’t have imagined being here — directing a feature, nominated against Guillermo del Toro and other amazing animation directors,” says Shi. “I learned so much from this experience. I’ve definitely grown in terms of my confidence as a storyteller, as a filmmaker.”

Domee Shi KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/NBC/GETTY IMAGES

For Shi, this also has served as reminder of the importance of varied stories and to “celebrate” those from diverse filmmakers: “Storytelling, especially in animation, is a powerful medium in delivering messages to wide audience.”

Set in Toronto’s Chinatown in the early 2000s, Turning Red follows Mei (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a 13-year-old who transforms into a giant red panda when she gets emotional, as she tries to break free from her overbearing mom (Sandra Oh).

“The message that a lot of immigrant kids got is just to be small, move smoothly through life, not to make a ruckus,” says Shi. “Hopefully kids who watch it, parents too, feel empowered to take up space, to be big and loud, to let their inner red pandas out and to be proud of all the things that make them different.”

Shi takes pride in sharing her heritage in her stories and has leaned into a complicated relationship with her mother for inspiration. “It was such a roller coaster of emotion. I felt like that makes such good entertainment,” she says, describing how the dynamic between Mei and her mother at one point fighting, at another being BFFs “felt so much like my own experience. I was driven crazy by my mom, but at the same time I wanted to make her proud and wanted her to shine her light and her adoration and pride onto me.”

She adds: “I think we’re good now. I think I got it out of my system, a short and a feature. That’s enough family therapy.”

Reflecting on this year’s Oscar nominations, led by Everything Everywhere All at Once, the genre-bending story of immigrant family, Shi is energized by where storytelling is headed. “It’s an exciting time right now for Asians in Hollywood and the West,” she says. “With movies like Everything Everywhere, and long-overdue accolades for actresses like Michelle Yeoh, it shows how small the world is, and it also proves commercially successful stories can have diverse main characters and filmmakers behind the camera. There’s a new definition of what universal stories can look like and who gets to tell them. I also know that it’s work that we have to consistently keep championing, because we could so easily go backward.”

Shi was named a creative vp at Pixar in 2022, leading new experiences. “I’ve been working with new directors that I’m really excited about,” she says. “I’m trying my hardest to be a champion for new voices at the studio and of those with diverse backgrounds. Now that the door is open for filmmakers like me, I’ll hold it open for the next generation.”

Turning Red: Domee Shi (Oscar Winner for Short ‘Bao’)’s Oscar Nominated Feature Documentary

Domee Shi: Diversity among Oscar Animation Noms Is “What Universal Stories Look Like”

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