FRI, MAY 8 / 8:30 pm
Dir. Mina Shum | Canada | 1994 | 100 min. (English and Cantonese with subtitles)
FREE ADMISSION
ANDREA DORFMAN INTRODUCES: DOUBLE HAPPINESS
Mina Shum’s debut feature, Double Happiness, chronicles the tribulations of one Chinese-Canadian young woman as she struggles to develop her own identity in a family where her parents are bound by traditions she views as outdated and short-sighted. The comic tone of Double Happiness has a unique flavor.
The film opens by introducing us to the protagonist, an unmarried twenty-ish woman named Jade (played by Sandra Oh), as she delivers a short monologue about what it was like being raised in her family. “I grew up wondering why we couldn’t be the Brady Bunch,” she confides, later adding that the Bradys never needed subtitles. Jade, is a wonderful character: likable, optimistic, funny and — most important of all — believable.” (J. Berardinelli)
One of Canada’s most promising, versatile and truly independent young filmmakers, Andrea Dorfman started making Super 8 films with friends in high school before graduating from Montreal’s McGill University in 1992. An extremely talented director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer, she graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax in 1995 and has created many films over the years including the feature films Parsley Days (2000) and Love That Boy (2003). She is visiting Winnipeg as an artist in residence for ART CITY.
