Mina Shum
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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'' and '' Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity'' both premiered in the US at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
and ''Double Happiness'' won the Wolfgang Staudte Prize for Best First Feature at the Berlin Film Festival and the Audience Award at Torino. She was director resident at the
Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded in 1988 by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally launched as a film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for ...
in Toronto. She was also a member of an alternative rock band called ''Playdoh Republic''.


Early life

Mina Shum was born in Hong Kong in 1966 and moved to Vancouver with her family at the age of one. Her family, who had originally left Maoist China, settled in Vancouver as part of the first wave of Chinese immigration. In her early school years, Shum was interested in acting and theatre, and decided to pursue these interests despite her parents' disapproval.Melnyk, George and Brenda Austin-Smith. "The Gendered Screen: Canadian Women Filmmakers." Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010, p. 204. Shum attended the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
from 1983 to 1989, and received a B.A. in theatre as well as a Diploma in Film Production. At the age of 19, Shum decided that she wanted to be a filmmaker after watching a film by
Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born 21 August 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He is known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), '' Gallipoli'' (1981), '' The Y ...
titled, ''
Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
''. From Gallipoli she discovered that "one, you could make a film that wasn't American-centric as well as find an audience and two, you could marry beautiful visuals with a very intimate story." After receiving her degree, she was briefly part of the director's program at the
Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded in 1988 by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally launched as a film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for ...
, in Toronto.Melnyk 2010, p. 204 Shum is also close friends with fellow filmmaker, Ann Marie Fleming, whom she met in 1989 while they were both students.Chang, Elaine. "Reel Asian: Asian Canada Onscreen." Coach House Books, 2007, p. 82.


Career

Although she is often
pigeonholed Pigeonholing is a process that attempts to classify disparate entities into a limited number of categories (usually, mutually exclusive ones). The term usually carries connotations of criticism, implying that the classification scheme referred ...
as a "Chinese-Canadian woman film director," Shum prefers to be known as an "independent filmmaker", rather than one of national identity. She views this label as one way to get audiences to view her film without prejudice.Melnyk 2010, p. 203 When discussing her association with feminism and multiculturalism Shum says, "Because I'm a living breathing human being in Vancouver, which is a very multicultural city, and I'm a woman, I tend to get tagged as someone who might write about "issues." But that's not where it starts for me, it starts on a very human level. I use narrative to reveal things that people don't see." Shum describes herself as being an enthusiastic consumer of ideas, movies, painting, theatre, music, dance, fiction, and non-fiction. When discussing her inspirations she says, "I read interviews with people I've never heard of. And I listen to both friends and strangers speak. I live entirely, throw myself into situations, get my heart broken, soar with infatuations. And somehow all that gets funneled through my guiding intention, which is to reflect and reveal how we can be happier. How to live more authentically, how to make the most out of this one life."


Short films

Shum's first short film, ''Picture Perfect'', is a 1989 release about a man obsessed with pornography and the effects of media on his personal life. The film is based on Shum's ex-boyfriend being a pornography addict and her experiences finding out about it. She ended up casting him in the lead role. ''Picture Perfect'' was nominated for "Best Short Drama" at the 1989
Yorkton Film Festival Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in we ...
.Mockler 2012 In 1993, Shum released a 20-minute documentary about her family titled, '' Me, Mom and Mona''. The film is reminiscent of a television talk show surrounding the lives of three women. Through the duration of the film, the women discuss the complexities of familial history and the sometimes strained relationship with the patriarch of the family. The film was well-received and was given a special citation from the Best Canadian Short Film award jury at the 1993 Toronto International Film Festival. Shum has written and directed several other short films, including: ''Shortchanged'', ''Love In'', ''Hunger'', and ''Thirsty''. Her most recent short film titled, ''Hip Hop Mom'', was released online in 2011 and has garnered thousands of hits.


Feature films

Shum has directed four feature-length films. Her first feature-length film, '' Double Happiness'', was released in 1994, and stars
Sandra Oh Sandra Miju Oh (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Rita Wu in ''Arliss (TV series), Arliss'' (1996–2002), Cristina Yang in ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005–14), and Eve Polastri in ''Kill ...
. ''Double Happiness'', is a semi-autobiographical film based on Shum's early experiences of leaving home as a teenager. The film is about an aspiring actress trying to assert her independence from the expectations of her Chinese Canadian family. ''Double Happiness'' won numerous awards including: the "Wolfgang Staudte Award" at the
Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
, the "Audience Award" at the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema, and "Best Canadian Feature Film" at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
. Shum's second feature film, '' Drive, She Said'', premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1997 and was in official competition at the Turin Delle Donne Film Festival. ''Drive, She Said'', is about a woman that is willingly taken hostage by a bank robber and accompanies him cross country to visit his ailing mother and her estranged family. Her third feature film, '' Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity'' was screened as part of the Canadian Perspective Program at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. The film is about a young girl who uses Taoist magic to help her mother's financial situation and love life. In her three narrative feature films, ''Double Happiness'', ''Drive, She Said'', and ''Long Life, Happiness, and Prosperity'', 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. Shum's films often features ironic, discontented young women that want to leave home for something better. In her films, Shum characterizes home as being a place of conflict, boredom, and disappointment. Her depiction of familial negotiations ensure conflicts for her protagonists. In February 2014, Shum began shooting in Montreal on a
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 ...
feature documentary entitled '' Ninth Floor'', about the Sir George Williams Affair student protest. Filming coincided with the 45th anniversary of the incident. ''Ninth Floor'' premiered at the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's ''Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and N ...
. It deals with an incident in 1969 at
Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène St ...
(later merged into
Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
) where students occupied a ninth-floor computer lab to protest the handling by school officials of a complaint about racial discrimination. At the 2015
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 ...
, Shum was awarded the Women in Film+Television Artistic Merit Award for ''Ninth Floor''.


Filmography

* ''Picture Perfect'' (1989) * ''Shortchanged'' (1990) (Short) * ''Love In'' (1991) (Short) * ''Hunger'' (1991) (Short) * '' Me, Mom and Mona'' (1993) (Short) * '' Double Happiness'' (1994) * '' Drive, She Said'' (1997) * ''Thirsty'' (1998) (Short) * ''You are What You Eat'' (2001) (Installation) * ''
Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C ...
'' (2002) (TV) * '' Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity'' (2002) * ''Mob Princess'' (2003) (TV movie) * ''
The Shields Stories ''The Shields Stories'' was a Canadian television drama series, which aired on W Network, W in 2004. A short-run dramatic anthology series produced by Shaftesbury Films, the series dramatized six short stories by Carol Shields. The series was a s ...
'' (2004) (TV) * ''
Romeo! ''Romeo!'' is a teen sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon from September 13, 2003, to July 23, 2006, totaling 53 episodes. The filming was done in Vancouver, British Columbia, while the show takes place in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Th ...
'' (2004) (TV) * ''
Da Vinci's Inquest ''Da Vinci's Inquest'' is a Canadian crime drama television series which originally aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. While never a ratings blockbuster, the critically acclaimed show did attract a loyal following, and ultimately seven se ...
'' (2004) (TV) * ''Noah's Ark'' (2006) (TV) * '' Exes and Ohs'' (2007) (TV) * '' About a Girl'' (2007) (TV) * ''Hip Hop Mom'' (2011) (Short) * ''All'' (2011) (Short) * '' Ninth Floor'' (2015) (Feature-length documentary) * '' Meditation Park'' (2017) * ''
Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...
'' 2019 & 2021 (TV) *''
Frankie Drake Mysteries ''Frankie Drake Mysteries'' is a Canadian drama that ran on CBC Television from November 6, 2017 to March 8, 2021. The series stars Lauren Lee Smith and Chantel Riley as Frankie Drake and her partner Trudy Clarke who run an all-female privat ...
'' 2019 (TV) *'' The Good Doctor'' 2022 (TV)


Awards

* Nominated – "Best Short Film": Yorkton Film Festival * "Best Canadian Short" – Special Jury Citation: Toronto International Film Festival 1993 * "Best Canadian Feature Film" – Special Jury Citation: Toronto International Film Festival 1994 * "Audience Award": Torino International Festival of Young Cinema 1994 * Nominated – "Best Achievement in Direction": Genie Awards 1994 * Nominated – "Best Original Screenplay": Genie Awards 1994 * "Wolfgang Staudte Award": Berlin Film Festival 1995 * "Best Canadian Screenplay – Special Mention": Vancouver International Film Festival * Nominated – "DGC Craft Award" Directors Guild of Canada 2007 * Won – Artistic Merit Award, Women in Film and Television Vancouver, 2015: Vancouver International Film Festival On June 21, 2016, she also received the "Finalé Artistic Achievement Award" from Women in Film + Television Vancouver, "which honours a screen-based media artist who has created an outstanding recent work or a significant body of work."


References


External links

*
Interview with Mina Shum: The Director's Question


{{DEFAULTSORT:Shum, Mina 1966 births Living people Canadian television directors Canadian women film directors Hong Kong emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Film directors from Vancouver University of British Columbia alumni Canadian Film Centre alumni Canadian women television directors Asian-Canadian filmmakers