screenwriter | scholar | rebel buddhist
Elaine Lai, Ph.D
“Will the Next Dalai Lama Be a Machine?”
Op-Ed with Religion News Service, June 24, 2025
Happy New Year 新年快樂 Trailer
Short Film, 2022
Duration: 14 mins
A Taiwanese American Buddhist woman commits to five random acts of kindness to close out the year, but her day is disrupted when she suddenly becomes a target of anti-Asian violence.
Written & Co-directed by: Elaine Lai
Co-Director: AnQi Yu
Happy New Year 新年快樂 Trailer (Edited by: Aftab Hafeez, Music by: Cahron Cross)
Blue Lotus
Audio Play, 2021
Duration: 3h 12mins
Story of enlightenment in female form that challenges the conventional narrative associated with the Buddha.
Written & Co-directed by: Elaine Lai
Co-director & Sound Design by: Cahron Cross
Art by: Nina Macintosh
Neighbors 鄰居
Audio Play, 2021
Duration: 2h 10mins
Three intertwining stories of queer Asian/Asian Americans who don’t fit into the dominant story of “America” or in the Chinese-American community.
Written & Co-directed by: Elaine Lai
Co-director & Sound Design by: Cahron Cross
Birthday Visit 生日探访
Short Film, 2010
Duration: 20 mins
A Father visits his daughter in Beijing to celebrate her birthday two months too late.
Written and Directed by: Elaine Lai
Made with the help of the Bejing Film Academy