EXCLUSIVE: Li Lu, the award-winning writer, director and producer behind the three-part docuseries A Town Called Victoria, broadcast nationwide last week on PBS, has signed with UTA for representation in all areas.
The series directed and produced by Lu picks up in the aftermath of an apparent hate crime, as a small Texas town’s local mosque is burned to the ground. From the trial of the suspect to the rebuilding of the mosque, A Town Called Victoria offers a nuanced portrait of a community confronting hate in its own midst, and grappling with deep-seated racial, religious, political, and economic rifts to find a collective way forward.
A Reel South and Independent Lens original series in association with The Center for Asian American Media, the docuseries was produced by Lu under her Time and Place banner alongside The Film Exchange. Supported by The Ford Foundation, Islamic Scholarship Fund, Austin Film Society, the Gotham, and Firelight Media, the project won the Audience Choice Award for Best Southern Feature or Series at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival just last month.
“Now that this epic project is finally out,” says Lu, “I’m very excited to work with UTA to pursue bold narrative and documentary stories spanning genre and form.”
Born in Suzhou, China, and raised in Sugar Land, TX, Lu made her feature directorial debut with There Is a New World Somewhere, a romantic drama starring Agnes Bruckner and Maurice Compte that was released in 2016. She’s also previously directed multiple episodes of Netflix’s Echoes and Fox’s The Resident.
Lu’s newest feature screenplay, Bury Me on Gold Mountain, was selected for the Film Independent Screenwriters Lab and Gotham Week: No Borders, and was named a semi-finalist in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. The filmmaker was, herself, selected for the Fox Global Inclusion Directors Lab in 2018.
As a member of the Directors Guild of America, Lu recently served as a delegate to the DGA biennial convention. She was also chosen for the inaugural class of the Women’s Steering Committee mentorship program, honoring the DGA’s top emerging female directors. An alum of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Lu continues to be represented by 42West and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC.
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