No Crying at the Dinner Table + Double Happiness
This cycle showcases the cinematic works of filmmakers from East Asian diasporas, exploring North American identity in their films.
Winner of two Genie Awards, notably Best Leading Actress for Sandra Oh
Filmmaker Carol Nguyen interviews her own family to craft an emotionally complex and meticulously composed portrait of intergenerational trauma, grief, and secrets in this cathartic documentary about things left unsaid.
Jade Li is a feisty, 20-something Chinese-Canadian, trying to achieve that happy medium between giving in to her parent's wishes and fulfilling her own needs and desires - double happiness. Naturally, something's got to give and when love beckons in the shape of Mark, a white university student, the facade of the perfect Chinese daughter begins to slip.
Mina Shum
Mina Shum 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 and Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity, starring Sandra Oh, premiered in the US at the Sundance Film Festival. The former won the Wolfgang Staudte Prize for Best First Feature at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Torino Film Festival. In her three first feature films, Shum uses a comedic approach to depict the Chinese Canadian family in multicultural Canada. She says that as a Chinese immigrant, she uses humour to characterize society in general. Her films often features ironic, discontented young women that want to leave home for something better; she characterizes home as being a place of conflict, boredom, and disappointment.
