Hollywood assistant director and Silicon Valley producer Jieying “Jenny” Liu brings care, discernment and creative rigor to AI cinema.

Before we ask artists to create stories that bring life to others, we also have to care about the life of the artist.”

— Jieying “Jenny” Liu

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, July 31, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Jieying “Jenny” Liu has spent much of her career at the place where filmmaking becomes most human: between a creative vision and the people required to carry it into reality.

As a first assistant director, Jenny coordinated schedules, departments and crews through the pressure of production. She learned that a film depends not only on what appears on screen, but on how people are led, how trust is protected and whether the heart of a story survives the demands of the industry.

That experience now shapes her work as Co-Founder and Director of the Tyrannus Angel Awards, where she is helping establish a human-centered standard for filmmaking in the age of artificial intelligence.

“What I want to protect is the heart of the story,” Jenny said. “A film should not be judged only by how impressive the technology is, the size of its budget or its commercial potential. AI is simply a tool. The creator’s voice, authenticity and emotional impact should remain at the center.”

A graduate of the University of Southern California, Jenny built her career across Hollywood film production, television, documentaries, international commercial campaigns and U.S.–China co-productions.

Her credits include the U.S.–China co-produced feature Invitation; commercial productions for international brands including Move Free and Vivo; a commercial featuring NBA legend Kobe Bryant; and the documentary Motionless, created with Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Dean Cundey and featuring Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren.

Her professional path later expanded beyond Hollywood. After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2023, Jenny founded SummerGrace Studio, producing and directing branded content, commercials and product films for technology companies and startups. The studio has served as a production vendor for ByteDance and created launch and promotional content for emerging AI tools, including Trae Solo.

Working within both entertainment and technology has given Jenny a close view of AI’s creative possibilities. She believes AI-assisted tools can lower production barriers and expand access, but she is equally concerned about what technology cannot supply: discernment, emotional truth, moral courage and care for the person creating the work.

“AI can help more people create, but access alone is not enough,” Jenny said. “We still have to ask whether a story is honest, whether it carries meaning and whether it leaves something of value with the audience.”

Jenny’s concern for creators is also rooted in a deeply personal spiritual journey.

During a season of serious illness, prayer and healing, she began to understand her work not only as a filmmaking career, but as a calling to serve the people shaping culture.

“I believe Jesus met me there, and what He gave me was not primarily about making my own films,” Jenny said. “It was about becoming a pair of hands underneath the people in this industry who are falling—the ones who make beautiful things but have nowhere to lay down what they are carrying.”

She felt called to help create a place where exhausted, isolated or discouraged artists could breathe again, encounter hope and rediscover purpose.

For Jenny, the need is larger than professional recognition. Hollywood helps shape how generations understand identity, love, family and human worth. She believes cultural renewal therefore cannot begin only with better content; it must also include spiritual and emotional restoration for the people creating it.

“Before we ask artists to create stories that bring life to others, we also have to care about the life of the artist,” Jenny said.

That conviction distinguishes her role among the five founders of the Tyrannus Angel Awards. Her focus is not only on discovering promising work, but on protecting both the integrity of the judging process and the humanity of the creator behind each submission.

As the leader of juror relations, Jenny is helping develop a process that considers creative excellence alongside authenticity, cultural understanding, faith perspectives and emotional impact.

“We are looking for stories that truly move people,” Jenny said. “Stories that stay with the next generation in the way the films we grew up with have stayed with us.”

Her understanding of storytelling also extends to live performance. Jenny directed the Christmas stage productions When the Christmas Rose Blooms in 2023 and The Bell Rings Again in 2024, reaching thousands of viewers through live and digital presentations.

Becoming a mother of two further deepened her concern for what stories leave behind.

“Motherhood teaches you to make room for another life—to nurture something beyond yourself and help it grow,” Jenny said. “It made me think more deeply about the stories we are placing before the next generation and about creating space for storytellers whose work may shape them.”

One film that continues to influence Jenny is Sound of Freedom. She was moved by its willingness to bring a hidden reality into view while affirming the value of every child’s life. For her, it demonstrated that storytelling can awaken compassion, give visibility to the vulnerable and move audiences toward action.

Through the Tyrannus Angel Awards, Jenny hopes to build more than a ceremony. She wants to help create a trusted community in which filmmakers are evaluated with seriousness and care, creators are reminded that their work matters, and technology remains accountable to human purpose.

“This award is not only about recognition,” Jenny said. “It is about reminding creators that their stories matter and that they should keep going.”

The inaugural Tyrannus Angel Awards ceremony will be held Saturday, October 24, 2026, at City Club Los Angeles. The program will distribute US$50,000 in prizes and grants across Original, Adapted and Animated Works.

Chantel Chang
Tyrannus Foundation Inc.
info@tyrannusfoundation.org
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