Julia Kwan is a

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 ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, director, and occasional producer of her own short and feature films. She has brought a keen sense of the Chinese-Canadian cultural experience to her films. Several of the films were made in conjunction with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

Her feature films include ''

Eve and the Fire Horse ''Eve and the Fire Horse'' is a 2005 Canadian film written and directed by Julia Kwan. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Claude Jutra Award for the best feature film by a first-time film director in Canada. Plot ...

'' (2005), as well as the feature length

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

Everything Will Be ''Everything Will Be'' is a 2014 documentary film about the changing face of Vancouver's Chinatown, directed by Julia Kwan and produced by David Christensen for the National Film Board of Canada. ''Everything Will Be'' was the first documentary fi ...

'' (2014). She is also known for her short film ''10,000 Delusions'' (1999) which screened at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

Early life

Julia Kwan was raised 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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

immigrant parents. These childhood experiences would be a strong influence on her feature film ''Eve and'' ''the Fire Horse''.Walker, Susan. "Canada's Sundance kid; Julia Kwan's film is festival's lone Canadian entry Story focuses on Chinese life in Vancouver." ''Toronto Star'', January 27, 2006. Accessed October 23, 2016. Her mother was a garment factory worker, while her father was employed as the head waiter at a Vancouver Chinese restaurant. She studied film at

Ryerson Polytechnic University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

Toronto, Ontario 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 ...

.Eisner, Ken. "VIFF 2014: Julia Kwan's Everything Will Be Captures Vancouver's Chinatown in Transition , Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly." Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. Last modified September 24, 2014. http://www.straight.com/movies/734976/viff-2014-julia-kwans-everything-will-be-captures-vancouvers-chinatown-transition. Kwan was previously employed as a data entry clerk, and is capable of typing 105 words a minute.Montagu, Katharine. "Eve and the Horse writer-director may be quiet, but Julia Kwan has plenty of bite." ''Canadian Screenwriter'' 9, no. 1 (October 2006), 21. As of 2006, Kwan is in remission from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

.Leiren-Young, Mark. "Julia Kwan rediscovers Chinatown; Debut documentary Everything Will Be reflects her love for the community of her childhood." ''Vancouver Sun'', September 25, 2014, D.3. Kwan was born under the Chinese

astrological sign In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. ...

of the Fire Horse. Kwan did not start making films until her 20s.

Career

Julia Kwan was a director resident at

Norman Jewison Norman Frederick Jewison (born July 21, 1926) is a retired Canadian film and television director, producer, and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. He has directed numerous feature films and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best D ...

Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1988. Originally launched as film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for pr ...

.Holt, Jim. "Vancouver director Julia Kwan gets warm reception at snowy Sundance." ''Canadian Press Newswire'', January 21, 2006. After beginning her career writing and directing two short films, she made her feature ''

'' (2005). The film was well received, with

Variety Magazine ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

declaring it "a finely wrought period piece" and "an exceptional feature debut." Forty percent of the dialogue in ''Eve and the Fire Horse'' (2005) is spoken in Kwan's native tongue of

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

. The film deals with the issues that arise from the friction between traditional

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

beliefs and those of

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

for nine year old Eve (Phoebe Kut) growing up in Vancouver. The actress has appeared in three of Kwan's films. The film is "a largely autobiographical tale (of Kwan herself) growing up as a child of immigrants in Vancouver." She has worked in a diversity of both subjects and genres throughout her filmography. Her short film ''Surfacing'' (2015) had Canadian folk musician

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan Order of Canada, OC Order of British Columbia, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing ( ...

for a subject. In the film, McLachlan tells anecdotes from both her childhood and professional career, in first person narration. Kwan also made a foray into animation with her short film ''Blossom'' (2010). This short

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

film showcases the changing of the seasons, as compared with the growth cycle of a child. Kwan's feature film ''

'' (2014) was her exploration of the effects of

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

Vancouver Chinatown Chinatown is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is Canada's largest Chinatown. Centered around Pender Street, it is surrounded by Gastown to the north, the Downtown financial and central business districts to the west, the Geor ...

. In the film, she interviews neighbourhood occupants that represent both the past and the future of the rapidly gentrifying community. The title of the film was inspired by an artistic installation by

Martin Creed Martin Creed (born 21 October 1968) is a British artist, composer and performer. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, '' Work No. 2 ...

. As of late 2006, Kwan was writing a treatment of

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...

's classic novel ''Generation X''.

Filmography"Julia Kwan." IMDb. Accessed October 23, 2016. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0477076/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm.

Awards and nominations

Kwan won several awards for her feature ''Eve and the Fire Horse''. She shared the

Claude Jutra Award The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special Canadian film award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the year's best feature film by a first-time film director. Under the earlier names Claude Jutra Award and Ca ...

at the 2006

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

for that film with filmmaker Stephane Lapointe. He won for his film ''

The Secret Life of Happy People ''The Secret Life of Happy People'' (french: La vie secrète des gens heureux) is a 2006 Canadian comedy-drama film. Plot Thomas Dufresne (Marc Paquet) is the black sheep of his bourgeois family. One day, he meets a free-spirited waitress named A ...

.'' She also won a Special Jury Prize at the 2006

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Vlessing, Etan. "Kwan, Lapointe share Genie." ''Hollywood Reporter'', February 1, 2007. Accessed October 24, 2016. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kwan-lapointe-share-genie-129183. for ''Eve and the Fire Horse''. At the 2006

Leo Awards The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...

, she won awards for Best Direction and Screenwriting for ''Eve and the Fire Horse''. She won the 2001 Charles Israel Screenwriting Prize for the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

for ''Eve and the Fire Horse'' from the

Writers Guild of Canada The Writers Guild of Canada is an organization representing more than 2,500 professional writers working in film, television, radio, and digital media production in Canada. Members of the Guild write dramatic TV series, feature films, Movies of th ...

. In 2005, Kwan won the Best Canadian Film Award"Vancouver International Film Festival (2005)." IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities - IMDb. Accessed November 16, 2016. http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000678/2005. for ''Eve and the Fire Horse'' at the

References

External links

*
Julia Kwan NFB Films
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwan, Julia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian women film directors Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Best First Feature Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Asian-Canadian filmmakers Film directors from Vancouver Canadian Film Centre alumni