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The Filmmakers

Director Mina Shum's story of being shushed on her own set exemplifies film's diversity problem

The acclaimed director shares the story of being stopped by a P.A. on her own set, and why she creates stories without thinking about what her heroes will look like.

'Excuse me, ma'am, we're filming right now!' 'Yeah, I'm the director'

CBC Arts ·

Director Mina Shum's story of being shushed on her own set exemplifies film's diversity problem

7 years ago
Duration 0:53
Mina Shum tells the story of being stopped by a P.A. on her own set, and why she creates stories without thinking about what her hero will look like.

23 years ago, Mina Shum directed her first feature film, Double Happiness, starring a fresh young talent — Sandra Oh. The film tells the semi-autobiographical story of an aspiring actress who struggles with the expectations of her Chinese-Canadian parents, and it went on to win a special jury citation for Best Canadian Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

But as a young female Asian filmmaker in 1994 — and still to this day — Shum's identity as a director is sometimes challenged because she doesn't fit the perception of what some people might expect someone in her role to look like.

We're not used to seeing ~this~ as the director.- Mina Shum, filmmaker

In this clip from CBC's The Filmmakers, Shum tells the story of being stopped by a P.A. on her own set, and why she creates stories without thinking about what her heroes will look like.

Watch The Filmmakers this Saturday at 8:30pm (9:00pm NT) on CBC Television or online at cbc.ca/watch, followed by Mina Shum's Double Happiness.