Head of Studios
EST N8

Sophie Shi currently serves as Head of Studios at EST N8, overseeing the entire operation of the team, including acquisitions, sales, festival strategy, distribution, etc. In this role, she has overseen the acquisition of over 40 films and served as Executive Producer on more than 15 projects. Her acquisitions include high-profile films such as Indonesian live-action Box Office #1 director Awi Suryadi’s horror Pabrik Gula; Drive My Car star Hidetoshi Nishijima’s latest English-speaking work Dear Stranger (Busan, Pingyao, Tokyo, Golden Horse, Nantes); Thai thriller Delivery Man written by Kongkiat Komesiri; Mash Ville, winner of Best Director at the Fantasia Film Festival; Netflix Korea’s #1 hit Chabak; and Masaki Nishiyama, one of Japan’s most highly anticipated new-generation genre directors, with his Raindance-selected film The Invisible Half.

Outside of EST N8, Sophie is producing the independent feature Outbound, written and directed by Ziyao Liu, which is currently in post-production. Previously, she was a creative executive at the production company of Janet Yang, contributing to the development of an eagerly anticipated Bruce Lee biopic directed by Ang Lee. She has also worked with HBO on The Staircase and We Own This City, as well as on the second season of Good Girls for NBC Universal.

Sophie has served as a jury member for the Young Director Award 2025 at Cannes, where she led the onsite live jury discussion, and was also a judge for the 46th Telly Awards.