Award-winning Canadian director Julia Kwan (right) will present her film Eve & the Fire Horse on Monday, April 10 as part of The Independents, a monthly series of screenings and discussions on independent Canadian cinema presented by York University’s Department of Film.
The only Canadian film in the history of the Sundance Film Festival to win the prestigious Special Jury Prize (2006), Eve & the Fire Horse is a quiet meditation on the subject of childhood. It is the story of two young Chinese-Canadian sisters dealing with issues of faith as they grow up during the 1970s. It brings together Eastern and Western theology, superstition, the experience of Canadian immigrants and the complex family bonds of the working class.
The film, which is Kwan’s first feature, has been honoured with a number of awards, including best Canadian Feature Film at the 2005 Vancouver International Film Festival. It is in release in theatres across Canada and has earned the praise of critics, including Kim Voyner of Cinematical, who wrote: “Eve & the Firehorse is everything good filmmaking ought to be – rich, inventive storytelling, just the right touches of humour and levity, and heart-rending acting from both young girls and veteran [Vivian] Wu.”
Left: A scene from Eve & the Fire Horse
An international award-winning filmmaker, Kwan is a second-generation Chinese-Canadian writer, director and producer living in Vancouver. As a fourth-year film student at Ryerson Polytechnic University, she produced, wrote and directed Inflamed (1993), which received the Canadian Student Film Festival award for best experimental film and the Chairman¹s Award (best film overall) at TVOntario Telefest. She has made several short films, including the experimental film, Prized Possessions (1997), and the comedy/drama, 10,000 Delusions (1999). While director resident at the prestigious Canadian Film Centre in 2001, Kwan made her short drama, Three Sisters on Moon Lake (2001), which had its Canadian premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kwan will be introduced by Professor Suzie Young, who teaches film and television studies in York’s Department of Film. Young is a film scholar and cultural theorist who specializes in Asian cinema, the horror genre, and feminism and popular culture.
Kwan will speak about her film in this presentation on Monday, April 10, at 2pm in The Cinema, 102 Accolade East on York’s Keele campus. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. For more information, contact Marcia Orlowsky, Faculty of Fine Arts, at ext. 55149 or e-mail orlowsky@yorku.ca.