Cheuk Kwan
Vancouver 49° 15' 39.14" N, 123° 6' 50.23" W Arts Film Documentary Person
Films
| Title | Description | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese Restaurants | This set of films explores the lives and stories of families in many countries who own Chinese restaurants. Disc 3 includes a Canadian story, that of Jim Cook who ran the New Outlook Café in Saskatchewan for 40 years. | 2004 |
Kwan, born in Hong Kong, educated in Singapore, Japan, and the United States and currently living in Toronto, Canada, is himself a Chinese diasporic. An information technologist turned political activist turned filmmaker, Kwan’s vision for the film project is to complete a total of 13 countries using the trope of Chinese restaurants as a tool for investigating the stories of Chinese diaspora as they migrate, assimilate and formulate new identities in their new homelands. Struck by the vast legacy of Chinese travels/migrations dating as far back as the Ming Dynasty and the virtual ubiquity of Chinese restaurants encountered during his travels, Kwan has harbored a dream to make this film series for the past 25 years. Unable to obtain funding from the Canadian government and with the ever-decreasing costs of video production vis à vis digital technology, his project is self-funded.
BY ANGELA CHOI