Keith Qi Chen (Keith Qixi Chen, Qifei Chen) was born in China and moved to New York at the age of 13, where he began his journey in the film industry, building a career in both the US and China. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (cinematography) from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Later, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree (directing) from the Beijing Film Academy, where he was fortunate to study under Zhuangzhuang Tian and Haiming Hou.

In 2003, he received a nomination for Best Cinematography for the film "Overture" (director Christopher Wedding) at the Dusty Film Festival. In 2004, he was nominated for Best Actor for his role in the film "Chinese Dream" (director Victor Quinaz) at the Rome International Film Festival in Georgia. His work on this film also led to a shortlisting for the Academy Award in 2005. "Chinese Dream" attracted significant attention: the film was shown at more than 50 film festivals around the world and received four awards for Best Live Action Short Film, including the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Keith's talents also extend to editing: in 2005, he worked on the documentary "Little Shaolin Monks" for director Haibin Bai. The documentary was released in the US in 2007. That same year, Keith worked as an assistant director in the pre-production of John Woo's film "Red Cliff." The film he shot, "Not Bad, Guy," was officially selected for the Chicago International Film Festival in 2007.

Throughout his career, Keith has demonstrated his versatility. He was the cinematographer of Larry Yang's (Zi Yang's) first feature film "Coming Home," which was released on CCTV6 in China. He was the co-director and editor of the short film "The Audition" by director Celine Li, which received the Best Ensemble Cast award at the Asian On Film Festival in 2014.