Born in 1983 in Gansu Province, China, Li is a multi-award-winning filmmaker of six feature-length films. Among them, Fly with the Crane (2012) was selected for the Orizzonti section, Venice Film Festival; River Road (2014) competed in Tokyo International Film Festival and was selected for Generation, Berlin International Film Festival. His fifth feature-length film, Walking Past the Future (2017), was selected for Un Certain Regard in Cannes. His sixth feature-length film, Return to Dust (2022), was selected for Competition in Berlin.