Minoru: Memory of Exile + Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming
This cycle showcases the cinematic works of filmmakers from East Asian diasporas, exploring North American identity in their films.
The bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor thrust 9-year-old Minoru Fukushima into a world of racism so malevolent he would be forced to leave Canada, the land of his birth. Like thousands of other Japanese Canadians, Minoru and his family were branded as an enemy of Canada, dispatched to internment camps in British Columbia and finally deported to Japan. Directed by Michael Fukushima, Minoru's son, the film combines classical animation with archival material. The memories of the father are interspersed with the voice of the son, weaving a tale of a birthright lost and recovered.
Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather go to Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians who tell her stories that force her to confront her past: the Iranian father she assumed abandoned her and the nature of poetry itself. The film is about building bridges between cultural and generational divides. It’s about being curious. Staying open. And finding your own voice through the magic of poetry.
Ann Marie Fleming
Ann Marie Fleming is an independent Canadian filmmaker, writer, and visual artist of Chinese, Ryukyuan and Australian descent. She 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. 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, who later perform voice-over in and produce her animated feature, Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming (2016). She is the great-granddaughter of the Chinese magician, acrobat and vaudeville performer Long Tack Sam. Her animated biographical film about him, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (2003), won Best Documentary at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Victoria Independent Film Festival.
