ADVOCATE BIO

A passionate human rights advocate, Liu has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2004 and has travelled on missions to Lesotho, Pakistan, Cote D’Ivoire, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Cairo, Peru, Egypt, Russia and Lebanon.  She has also traveled to China and Haiti to support a micronutrient program for malnutrition in infants and young children. 

In 2006, the documentary FREEDOM’S FURY premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival with Liu and her Kill Bill collaborator Quentin Tarantino as executive producers. FREEDOM’S FURY is a documentary film about the Melbourne, Australia 1956 Summer Olympics semifinal water polo match between Hungary and the USSR, and the events that led up to the violent battle, one of the most politicized sports matches ever played, popularly known as the "Blood in the Water" match. The documentary was narrated by Mark Spitz, who as a teenager had been coached by Ervin Zádor, who was a member of the Hungarian team. The debut of the film in 2006 also marked the 50th anniversary of the match and in 2007 was selected to screen for the US Congress. Both Liu and Tarantino were knighted in 2010 for their award winning documentary and their contribution by the Hungarian Government.

Liu has been involved in three films exposing and chronicling the tragedies and injustices of the international child-trafficking industry. 

In 2008, Liu produced and narrated the short film, THE ROAD TO TRAFFIK.  The film was co-produced by photographer Norman Jean Roy and led to a partnership with producers on the documentary film REDLIGHT, which Liu produced and narrated. The film focuses on the plight of women and children sold into sexual slavery. It premiered at The Woodstock Film Festival in 2009 and aired on Showtime in 2010.

In 2010, Liu travelled to India to mark her directorial debut with the short narrative MEENA, an adaptation of the true story of Meena Haseena, who was kidnapped and sold to a brothel at age eight and forced into sexual slavery for the next decade. While in captivity, she gave birth to two children, whom she later rescued after her own escape from the brothel.  This film highlights the story featured in the first chapter of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s New York Times #1 bestselling book Half the Sky.  The film was awarded the 2015 Telly Bronze Award for Online Video - Online Webisodes, Segments, or Promotional Pieces - Social Issues and was a 2015 Webby Awards Official Honoree in Online Video: Public Service & Activism. 

In 2006, Liu was awarded the Women’s World Award for her outstanding humanitarian work, presented to her by former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and sponsored by the World Awards organization headed by former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev.  In 2008, she received UNICEF’S Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award for helping to advocate child survival by harnessing the power of celebrity to address international causes.

In 2012, Women for Women International honored Liu with their prestigious Champion For Peace Award and The Muse Award from New York Women In Film.