''Everything Will Be'' is a 2014 documentary film about the changing face of Vancouver's Chinatown, directed by
Julia Kwan
Julia Kwan is a Canadian screenwriter, 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 ...
and produced by
David Christensen
David Christensen is an Alberta film director and producer who since October 2007 has been an executive producer with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) at its Northwest Centre, based in Edmonton.
Directing
His directorial credits include ...
for the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
. ''Everything Will Be'' was the first documentary film for Kwan, whose first feature ''
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
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It ...
'' was a fictional comic account of growing up Chinese in Vancouver.
Production
Kwan and Christensen had initially explored the idea of making a film that contrasted Vancouver’s fading Chinatown with the thriving
Golden Village
Golden Village is a cinema operator in Singapore. It also is a partner of Orange Sky Golden Harvest, a Hong Kong-based film production company. Established in 1992 as a joint venture between Golden Harvest and Village Roadshow, the company ope ...
in nearby Richmond, until Kwan realized her passion was in documenting Chinatown’s historic sites and businesses before they disappeared: "One day I was walking down Pender Street and within a two-block radius I counted like 20 shuttered shops … herbalists and knick-knack shops and green grocers. I think I was inspired to make this film from that ache I felt for the Chinatown of my childhood."
Kwan has described the film as "an observational, immersive documentary, inspired by
Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman (born January 1, 1930) is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. His work is primarily about exploring American institutions. In 2017, ''The New York Times'' called him "one of the most important and origina ...
," and prepared for the film by walking the streets of Chinatown with her cinematographer. Since she characterizes her own command of Cantonese as "highly suspect," Kwan had a researcher and translator with her much of the time. She found herself drawn to the stories of elderly residents, who reminded her of her own parents and the people she grew up with.
Area residents featured in ''Everything Will Be'' include an elderly newspaper seller known as Granny Kwan, and a security guard who's worked in the area for 20 years, who helped the filmmaker convince doubtful area residents to participate in the film. The film's title is inspired by a neon 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. 22 ...
Bob Rennie
Bob Rennie (born 1956) is an art collector and a real estate marketer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the founder and executive director of Rennie, a Vancouver based real estate marketing firm. The company's business divisions include ...
's art museum in Chinatown’s Wing Sang building. Rennie is also featured in the film.
Release
The film premiered at the 2014
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...
, followed by 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 Festi ...
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...
Calgary Herald
The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
History
''The C ...