My Friends Are Better Than Yours Featuring Bobby Yan

Bobby Yan is an eight-time Emmy Award-winning director, writer, visual effects artist, and editor. First getting his start in music videos, Bobby directed some of the world’s biggest music artists in numerous genres from Hip Hop, Pop, and Rock to Gospel, working with major labels such as Sony, Warner Bros, and Universal Records. He has directed over one hundred music videos
and commercials.

Bobby, a child of Chinese immigrants, was born and raised in New York City before moving to New Orleans, LA. The juxtaposition of these two different cultures and environments became a heavy influence on Bobby’s style and expression. From his love of music to videogames and pop culture, his work has a highly visual and fun aesthetic style that pops out on the screen, while his personal and more intimate work in his short films tackles topics and stories from a worldview perspective, often exploring topics of ethnicity & heritage, gender & sexuality, and self-identity.

His 2017 debut film, a narrative proof of concept short entitled “Marz” explores sexuality & masculinity in Hip Hop, released to much critical acclaim, garnering a premiere screening for the
Frameline Film Festival at the Castro Theater in San Francisco and showcased in over fifty festivals worldwide. It can currently be seen on AMC’s ALLBLK streaming service.

A graduate of the Disney Directing program and Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative, Bobby has since directed four feature films, airing on Lifetime, BET+, TV One, and an upcoming Tubi Original. He directed an episode of the 2021 ABC Talent Showcase, a comedy piece entitled “Future Me” as well as the first nine episodes of the TV series “K-Love”, shot in the Philippines and streaming on the VIU Network in Asia and Africa.

He is a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans and received a Master’s Degree from New York University in Visual Arts & Design where he studied visual effects and 3D compositing. Besides working in film, he has been a freelance associate producer and editor for Sports Television over the last thirteen years, where he has garnered eight Emmy Awards for his work with MLB Network on the show “MLB Tonight”
.
He has served as a judge and board member at numerous film festivals, including the New York Asian American International Film Festival, the International Black Film Festival of Nashville
and the New Orleans Black Film Festival.

In 2018, he was bestowed an honor from Tulane University with a yearly media event in his name entitled “The Bobby Yan Lectureship Series in Social Media and Change” due to his efforts there in galvanizing students in community activism and diversity. Past speakers include indie producer Christine Vachon of Killer Films and TV showrunner Felicia Howell.

He is currently attached to direct a feature film biopic on the life of 1970s gender-bending music icon & AIDS activist Sylvester, as well as his first documentary feature film on the history of the legendary NYC concert venue “Sounds of Brazil,” with Julien Lennon narrating.

My Friends Are Better Than Yours Featuring Bobby Yan