Domee Shi made history this year by becoming the first woman to direct a Pixar short, “Bao.” Now she’s set to pivot to feature filmmaking. As Deadline reports, Shi is attached to direct a feature for the animation studio. Its story is currently in early development.
“We’re just developing the story for it right now,” Shi revealed. “It’s super early on, but I’m really excited to play in this new 90-minute film format.”
“Bao” marked Shi’s first directorial effort. The short, which screened with this summer’s “Incredibles 2,” is the story of a Chinese-Canadian woman dealing with empty nest syndrome. She is able to put her mothering skills to use once more when one of her homemade dumplings comes to life.
Shi’s fondness for Asian food and culture, as well as dark fairy tales, led to “Bao.” “I’m a huge fan of Asian food; I love cute, old Asian people; I love weird, dark fairy tales, like ‘The Little Gingerbread Man,’ or ‘Thumbelina,'” she explained. “I wanted to do a modern version of that — my take on that — and I think all of that went into making ‘Bao.'”
The director pitched “Bao” at a Pixar open call in 2016. “I practiced really, really hard, the weeks leading up to it. I drew a ton of boards for it, and then I just presented all three ideas,” she remembered. “I pitched a rough beginning, middle, and end for each idea. I had some concept art, some reference images, and slowly, I made it through each round.”
Shi has also worked as a storyboard artist on “Incredibles 2,” the upcoming “Toy Story 4,” and “The Good Dinosaur.” She served as a story artist on “Inside Out.”
“I still can’t believe that I was able to do this,” Shi said, in reference to becoming the first woman to direct a short for Pixar. “I’m very humbled and grateful that Pixar got behind such an offbeat little short, and I still can’t believe that we’re attached to one of the biggest animated films ever. I didn’t expect [to reach that milestone], going into making this. That was kind of just the extra treat.”
Shi is especially proud of “Bao’s” depiction of Asian culture, and credits the inclusive “Sanjay’s Super Team” and “Coco” for helping her story make it to the screen. “Because those two productions were done before ‘Bao,’ it gave me confidence, knowing that ‘Bao’ isn’t just going to be a trend, or a blip,” she said. “Hopefully, there will be more different stories down the road from these big studios because I think they’ve just all realized now that they can’t keep drawing from the same creative well over and over again. If Pixar wants to stay at the forefront of animation and storytelling, they’ll have to look for different sources.”
Shi directing a Pixar film could be a game-changer in terms of off-screen representation. A study from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that only two Asian women served as directors on the top 1,100 films from 2007 to 2017. Plus, animation is a field that notoriously shuts out women. Women accounted for just 19 percent of those working in animated features in 2017, according to research from Dr. Martha Lauzen and the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film.
