Mina Shum

Films directed by Mina Shum

• Picture Perfect (1989)
• Shortchanged (1990)
• Love In (1991)
• Hunger (1993)
• Me, Mom and Mona (1993)
• Double Happiness (1994)  (also known as: "Bonheur aigre-doux")
• Drive, She Said (1997)  (also known as: "Ingen väg tillbaka")
• Thirsty (1997)
• Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (2002)  (also known as: "Fu lu shou: Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity")
• Mob Princess (2003)  (also known as: "Pour l'honneur de mon père")
• Hip Hop Mom (2011)
• I Saw You (2013)
• Ninth Floor (2015)  (also known as: "Neuvième étage")
• Meditation Park (2017)

Quotes by Mina Shum

"The theme [of all my films] is 'You have one life, so you have to live who you really are'."
-- Mina Shum (source)

For QUOTES about a specific film by Mina Shum, please see:   Picture Perfect    Me, Mom and Mona    Double Happiness    Drive, She Said    Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity    Ninth Floor    Meditation Park   

Notes about Mina Shum

• Born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver.

Bibliography for Mina Shum

Section 1: Publications by Mina Shum

• Fleming, Ann Marie, and Mina Shum. "F Words: Recorded, Excerpted." In Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen, edited by Elaine Chang, 81-97. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2007.

Section 2: Publications about Mina Shum

Book Chapters

• Austin-Smith, Brenda. "Women, Liminality, and 'Unhomeliness' in the Films of Mina Shum." In The Gendered Screen: Canadian Women Filmmakers, edited by Brenda Austin-Smith and George Melnyk, 203-216. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010.
• Levitin, Jacqueline. "Mina Shum: The 'Chinese' Films and Identities." In Great Canadian Film Directors, edited by George Melnyk, 271-291. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2007.
• Levitin, Jacquelin. "Your Secrets Shouldn't Be So Secret." Interview with Mina Shum. In The Young, the Restless, and the Dead: Interviews with Canadian Filmmakers, edited by George Melnyk, 55-71. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008.

Brief Sections of Books

• Xing, Jun. Asian America Through the Lens: History, Representations, and Identity. Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press, 1998. (pp. 209-210)

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

• Cuthbert, Pamela. "Mina Shum drives on." Take One (Toronto), Spring 1998.
• Vancouver Sun. "See How They Work: Filmmaker Mina Shum." Interview with Mina Shum. Vancouver Sun, November 21, 2013.

Web Sites

• Bibliothèque et Archives Canada. "Femmes à l'honneur : leurs réalisations : les femmes dans le cinéma canadien : Mina Shum." Bibliothèque et Archives Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/femmes/030001-1266-f.html. [in French]
• "IMDb: Mina Shum." Internet Movie Database, Inc. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0795803/.
• Library and Archives Canada. "Celebrating Women's Achievements: Canadian Women in Film: Mina Shum." Library and Archives Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/femmes/030001-1266-e.html.
• "Mina Shum." http://minashum.com/. [official site]
• Ramsay, Christine. "Canadian Film Encyclopedia: Mina Shum." Film Reference Library (Toronto International Film Festival Group). http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/index.asp?layid=46&csid1=63&navid=88&fid3=556.

Section 3: Publications about the Films of Mina Shum

Me, Mom and Mona (1993)

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

• Spires, Randi. "Me, Mom and Mona." Review of Me, Mom and Mona. Matriart, vol. 4, no. 1, 1993.

Double Happiness (1994)  (also known as: "Bonheur aigre-doux")

Book Chapters

• Banning, Kass. "Playing in the Light: Canadianizing Race and Nation." In Gendering the Nation: Canadian Women's Cinema, edited by Kay Armatage, Kass Banning, Brenda Longfellow, and Janine Marchessault, 291-310. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
• Marchetti, Gina. "Guests at The Wedding Banquet: The Cinema of the Chinese Diaspora and the Rise of the American Independents." In Contemporary American Independent Film: From the Margins to the Mainstream, edited by Chris Holmlund and Justin Wyatt, 211-225. London: Routledge, 2005.
• Melnyk, George. "The City of Dysfunction: Race and Relations in Vancouver from Shum's Double Happiness (1994) to Sweeney's Last Wedding (2001) and McDonald's The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess (2004)." In Film and the City: The Urban Imaginary in Canadian Cinema, 229-253. Edmonton: AU Press, 2014.
• Rueschmann, Eva. "Mediating Worlds / Migrating Identities: Representing Home, Diaspora and Identity in Recent Asian American and Asian Canadian Women's Films." In Moving Pictures, Migrating Identities, edited by Eva Rueschmann, 180-194. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003.
• Ty, Eleanor. "Rescripting Hollywood: Performativity and Ethnic Identity in Mina Shum's Double Happiness." In The Politics of the Visible in Asian North American Narratives, 69-81. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Brief Sections of Books

• Gittings, Christopher E. Canadian National Cinema: Ideology, Difference and Representation. London: Routledge, 2002. (pp. 239-241)
• Monk, Katherine. Weird Sex and Snowshoes: And Other Canadian Film Phenomena. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2001. (pp. 290-291)

Journal Articles

• O'Neill, Edward R. "Asian American Filmmakers: The Next Generation?: Identity, Mimicry and Transtextuality in Mina Shum's Double Happiness and Quentin Lee and Justin Lin's Shopping for Fangs." CineAction, no. 42 (February 1997): 50-62.
• Pospísil, Tomás. "Sam and Me, Masala and Double Happiness: Multicultural Experience in Canadian Film of the Early 1990s." Brno Studies in English 33 (2007): 185-198.

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

• Benson, Sheila. "Chinese but not Chinese, and revealing the difference." Migration World, January-February 1996.
• Bilodeau, Martin. "Casse-tête chinois : Maladresses de débutante et audaces de néophyte." Review of Double Happiness. Le Devoir, July 29, 1995. [in French]
• Chiose, Simona. "Double Happiness." Review of Double Happiness. Globe and Mail, July 28, 1995.
• Cloutier, Mario. "Double Happiness, un coup d'envoi réussi pour Mina Shum." Review of Double Happiness. La Presse, June 12, 1995. [in French]
• Dafoe, Chris. "Happiness hasn't spoiled Mina Shum; Like the lead character in her critically—and popularly—acclaimed Double Happiness, Chinese-Canadian filmmaker has struggled against the disapproval of her family in the search for success." Interview with Mina Shum. Globe and Mail, October 6, 1994.
• Dussault, Serge. "Bonheur aigre-doux : Une petite comédie qui a le drame à fleur de peau." La Presse, August 5, 1995. [in French]
• Klady, Leonard. "Double Happiness." Review of Double Happiness. Variety, September 19, 1994.
• Lee, Edmund. "Double daring." Interview with Mina Shum. The Village Voice, August 15, 1995.
• Maslin, Janet. "A delicate Asian flower in a motorcycle jacket." Review of Double Happiness. New York Times, July 28, 1995.
• Tanner, Louise. "Chinese girl leaves home." Interview with Mina Shum. Films in Review, November-December 1995.
• Tremblay, Odile. "Sandra Oh dans Double Happiness : Un rôle sur mesure." Le Devoir, June 12, 1995. [in French]
• Vermee, Alison. "Mina Shum and Kathy Garneau: Identification marks." Interview with Mina Shum, Kathy Garneau. Take One (Toronto), Autumn 1994.

Drive, She Said (1997)  (also known as: "Ingen väg tillbaka")

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

• Elley, Derek. "Drive, She Said." Review of Drive, She Said. Variety, December 22, 1997.
• Gerstel, Judy. "Sophomore effort crashes." Review of Drive, She Said. Toronto Star, September 4, 1998.
• Haslett Cuff, John. "Driving wild on the wrong side of the road: Canadian filmmaker Mina Shum spins her wheels tackling some unfamiliar terrain." Review of Drive, She Said. Globe and Mail, September 4, 1998.
• Roberge, Huguette. "Drive, She Said : P'tite vie ou émotion forte?" Review of Drive, She Said. La Presse, November 21, 1998. [in French]
• Tremblay, Odile. "Une bédé à la sauce Hong-Kong." Review of Drive, She Said. Le Devoir, November 21, 1998. [in French]

Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (2002)  (also known as: "Fu lu shou: Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity")

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

• Monk, Katherine. "The great Canadian buddy picture: Actress Sandra Oh's friendship with director Mina Shum at heart of latest film." Interview with Mina Shum, Sandra Oh. National Post, February 7, 2003.
• Perreault, Luc. "Magie taoïste." Review of Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity. La Presse, April 12, 2003. [in French]
• Tremblay, Odile. "Codes chinois." Review of Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity. Le Devoir, April 12, 2003. [in French]
• Walker, Susan. "A little Taoist magic can work wonders." Review of Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity. Toronto Star, February 7, 2003.

Ninth Floor (2015)  (also known as: "Neuvième étage")

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

• Brownstein, Bill. "Landmark moment in race relations; Documentary highlights incendiary protest in Montreal." Review of Ninth Floor. Montreal Gazette, January 15, 2016.
• Brownstein, Bill. "A seat in the computer lab; Ninth Floor brings us deep inside the 1969 Sir George Williams Affair." Montreal Gazette, October 9, 2015.
• Brownstein, Bill. "The view from The Ninth Floor; A forthcoming NFB documentary looks back at the incendiary events that become known as the Sir George Williams Affair." Montreal Gazette, February 21, 2014.
• Conner, Shawn. "In new doc, riot gets its due." Interview with Mina Shum. Vancouver Sun, January 7, 2016.
• James, Royson. "When Canada lost its innocence." Toronto Star, September 11, 2015.

Meditation Park (2017)

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

• Cooper, Julia. "Indie director Mina Shum's Meditation Park asks: 'Can't we all be heroes?'; A big movie about a tiny woman, Shum's new film follows a different kind of lead: A Chinese immigrant who learns her husband of 40 years has been unfaithful." Interview with Mina Shum. Globe and Mail, March 6, 2018.
• Gee, Dana. "A Meditation on mid-life; Vancouver-shot film tells tale of a woman finding herself amid city's backyard parking community." Interview with Mina Shum. Vancouver Sun, March 8, 2018.
• Gee, Dana. "Vancouver latecomer actor Lillian Lim shines bright in new feature Meditation Park." Vancouver Sun, March 15, 2018.
• Gillmor, Alison. "Chinese-Canadian view of the dutiful wife." Review of Meditation Park. Winnipeg Free Press, March 16, 2018.
• Knight, Chris. "A mid-life crisis that plays as real, droll." Review of Meditation Park. Regina Leader-Post, May 11, 2018.

Archival Collections

• Cinemathèque québécoise (Montréal, Québec)
• Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa, Ontario)