Ann Marie Fleming is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

filmmaker,

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, and

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

ist. She was born in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, USCAR (nowadays

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

), in 1962 and is of

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, Ryukyuan and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n descent. Her film ''

Window Horses ''Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming'' is a 2016 Canadian animated feature film written and directed by Ann Marie Fleming (sometimes stylized with the title in parentheses or written as ''Window Horses'' without a subtitle), a ...

'' was released in 2016. Her animated biographical film ''The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam'' (2003) won Best Documentary at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Victoria Independent Film Festival. She is the great-granddaughter of the Chinese

magician Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

, acrobat and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

performer Long Tack Sam.

Background

Fleming has a B.A. in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(Hon) from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in 1984, and with a B.F.A. (

Diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

) from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

in 1989. Later, she did an M.F.A. at Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts in 1992. She completed the Cineplex Entertainment Film Program Directors' Lab in 1992 and was a resident at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in the same year until 1993. In the following year, she was chosen by the painter, Lawrence Weiner, to be an

artist in residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

until 1995. Fleming was a graduate film advisor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and co-founded

Global Mechanic Global Mechanic Media is an interdisciplinary creative studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is known for creating various digital and traditional media, feature and short films, television series, commercials, games, ins ...

, an animation/film/design production house, in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. She is also the Phil Lind Multicultural Artist in residence to the

from October 2015 to May 2016. There, she mentors and works with students in the university's Film Production program and those from other programs who are keen on learning about

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

. Fleming first emerged from the West Coast art scene in the 1980s with the likes of visual artists-turned-filmmakers like Fumiko Kiyooka, Linda Ohama and

Mina Shum Mina Shum (born 1966) is an independent Canadian filmmaker. She is a writer and director of award-winning feature films, numerous shorts and has created site specific installations and theatre. Her features, ''Double Happiness (film), Double Ha ...

. Fleming and Shum met as students in 1989 and have since remained close friends. It was through Shum that she first met actress Sandra Oh in 1994. Fleming later met Oh again at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in 2014 and asked her to perform

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...

in and produce her animated feature, ''

'' (2016). The film is largely financed by

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

through Indiegogo.

Stick Girl

In her early days as an

student in the 1980s, Fleming refused to drop out of school after sustaining injuries from a car accident. Her severely limited mobility during recovery allowed her to draw only 'tiny little gestures' which led to the creation of her iconic avatar and muse, 'Stick Girl'. Stick Girl has two slanted black lines for eyes, reflecting Fleming's Asian heritage. Fleming uses Stick Girl to represent herself in her biographical documentary, ''The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam'' (2003). Stick Girl will also play Rosie Ming (voiced by Sandra Oh), an Asian-Canadian poet with

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

roots, in ''Window Horses.''

''The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam'' (2003)

While recovering from the same traffic accident, Fleming acquired 16 mm film reels, home movies of her great-grandfather, the mysterious Asian magician, Long Tack Sam. Intrigued, she went to find out more about how a

man could have been a successful

star during days of political strife and racial tension in the early 20th century who was, as the film later reveals, world-renowned, yet forgotten. As a narrator and character herself in the story, Fleming traces her grandfather's footsteps all over the world, from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and later back to Canada. Her journey for clarity proves difficult when contradicting origin stories of Sam emerge. Daniella Trimboli argues that instead of focusing on multiplicities, Fleming deconstructs the idea of singular truth by blending traditional documentary forms with her non-conventional storytelling techniques. Fleming does this by combining

comic-book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are oft ...

strips for Sam's origin stories and

of characters in old photographs with

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

s, first-person narration and old footage. ''The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam'' is part of a subgenre that Jim Lane calls the 'family portrait documentary' in which the boundaries of private and public histories intersect as the filmmaker's life interweaves with the family in focus, as an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

layering the

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of the family. An example as such is Fleming's profession directly affecting Sam's; the movies were overtaking

in the American mainstream entertainment business. Rocio C. Davis sees the documentary as an important project and product of Asian Canadian cultural and historical revisioning, a way for Fleming to claim for her ancestor, and by extension, for herself, a place within Canada's cultural and historical narrative. Trimboli also notes that the film can be a useful tool for engaging in

cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizens ...

with its 'persistent self-reflexivity' on the ideas and themes of cultural differences, ethnic identity, and

orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

.Trimboli, Daniella. (2015). "Memory Magic: Cosmopolitanism And The Magical Life Of Long Tack Sam". ''Continuum'' 29 (3): 479-489. doi:10.1080/10304312.2014.986063. In 2007, Fleming made a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

adaptation of the film which won the Doug Wright "Best Book Award" for graphic novels in 2008 and had two Eisner award nominations.

Filmography

*''Waving'' (1987) *''You Take Care Now'' (1989) *''New Shoes: an interview in exactly 5 minutes'' (1990) — a segment of movie ''

Five Feminist Minutes ''Five Feminist Minutes'' is a Canadian short film anthology released in 1990 by the National Film Board of Canada. The films were produced independently for the 15th anniversary of Studio D of the National Film Board of Canada in collaboration w ...

'' *''Pioneers of X-Ray Technology'' (1991) *''So Far So...'' (1992) *''It's Me, Again'' (1993) *''Buckingham Palace'' (1993) *''La Fabula della bella Familia auf du World'' (1993) *''My Boyfriend Gave Me Peaches'' (1994) *''I Love My Work'' (1994) *''Pleasure Film (Ahmed's Story)'' (1995) *''Automatic Writing'' (1996) *''Great Expectations: not what you're thinking'' (1997) *''AMF's Tiresias'' (1998) *''One & Only'' (1999) *''Hysterical: the musical'' (2000) *''Lip Service: a mystery'' (2001) *''Aguas de Março'' (2002) *'' Blue Skies'' (2002) *''The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam'' (2003) *''Room 710'' (2005) *''The French Guy'' (2005) *''

My Obscure Object of Desire My or MY may refer to: Arts and entertainment * My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station * Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe * ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak * ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon Business * Mark ...

'' (2006) *''Running'' (2008) *''Landslide'' (2008) *''My Place webisodes'' (2009) *''Window Horses Karaoke Project'' (2009) *''

I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors ''I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors'' is a 2010 animated film by Ann Marie Fleming based on a 2006 autobiographical graphic novel by Bernice Eisenstein. In the book and its film adaptation, Eisenstein explores her own identity through the expe ...

'' (2010) *''Gluttony'' (2011) *''Big Trees'' (2013) *''

'' (2016) *'' Vancouver April 2020 18:59:30 PT'' (2020)Norman Wilner
"Canadian directors are making films in self-isolation"
'' Now'', May 12, 2020.

Awards

* Northampton Independent Film Festival *

Boston Underground Film Festival The Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) is an annual event held in the Boston area that specializes in alternative film and video. BUFF is the largest underground film festival in New England, spotlighting short films and feature-length films ...

Ann Arbor Film Festival The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America (after the Yorkton Film Festival, 1947; Columbus International Film ...

* Northwest Film Festival * San Diego Asian Film Festival *

Reel Asian Film Festival A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a ''bobbin, spool'') with flanges around t ...

(best Canadian short, three time winner) *

Vancouver Arts Award Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Victoria Film Festival The Victoria Film Festival is a publicly attended film festival in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada running for ten days in February. The festival shows both Canadian and international films and unreels 150 films with 55 Features on 6 screens ...

- documentary award * Vancouver International Film Festival - Best Canadian, Best B.C. Film * Gijon International Film Festival Best animated feature *

Stuttgart International Animated Film Festival Stuttgart (; Swabian German, Swabian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fe ...

- Animovie - best feature film * Asia Pacific Screen Awards best animated feature

References

External links

* *
Ann Marie Fleming Biography and Filmography on Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Ann Marie 1962 births People from Okinawa Prefecture Film directors from Vancouver Living people Canadian Film Centre alumni Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian women film directors Emily Carr University of Art and Design alumni Asian-Canadian filmmakers University of British Columbia alumni Simon Fraser University alumni