Canadian Domee Shi is the first female director to helm a Pixar short film and will have her project Bao screen before the upcoming feature Incredibles 2.

Bao, which will premiere later this month at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, is billed as the story of "an empty-nesting Chinese mom [who] gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life."

The eight-minute movie will be the longest Pixar short film to date.

Shi was born in China and moved to Toronto with her family when she was two.

"Often times it felt like my mom would treat me like a precious little dumpling, wanting to make sure I was safe, that I didn't go out late, all that stuff. I just wanted to create this magical, modern-day fairy tale, kind of like a Chinese Gingerbread Man story," Shi told Entertainment Weekly.

She went to Sheridan College in Oakville, Ont., for animation and earned an internship at Pixar, which led to work as a storyboard artist on movies such as Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur and Toy Story 4.

Incredibles 2, with voice acting by the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter, Catherine Keener, Isabella Rossellini and Bob Odenkirk, is set to hit theatres in June.