Qiu Yang was born in Changzhou, China. He studied film directing in Australia. In 2015, Under the Sun was selected for the Festival de Cannes Cinéfondation Competition. A Gentle Night was awarded the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes (2017). His latest short film She Runs won the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for the best short film at the Cannes Critics' Week (2019). His first feature film, Some Rain Must Fall, was selected for the Encounters Competition at the Berlinale 2024.