Julia Kwan

Julia Kwan is a screenwriter, director, and occasional producer of her own short and feature films. She has brought a keen sense of the Chinese-Canadian cultural experience to her films. Several of the films were made in conjunction with the National Film Board of Canada Her feature films include Eve and the Fire Horse (2005), as well as the feature length Documentary film Everything Will Be (2014). She is also known for her short film 10,000 Delusions (1999) which screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Julia Kwan was raised in Vancouver to Chinese immigrant parents. These childhood experiences would be a strong influence on her feature film Eve and the Fire Horse (2005). Her mother was a garment factory worker, while her father was employed as the head waiter at a Vancouver Chinese restaurant. She studied film at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. Kwan was previously employed as a data entry clerk, and is capable of typing 105 words a minute. As of 2006, Kwan is in remission from Cancer. Kwan was born under the Chinese astrological sign of the Fire Horse. Kwan did not start making films until her 20s.

Julia Kwan was a director resident at Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Centre. After beginning her career writing and directing two short films, she made her feature Eve and the Fire Horse (2005). The film was well received, with Variety Magazine declaring it "a finely wrought period piece" and "an exceptional feature debut." Forty percent of the dialogue in Eve and the Fire Horse (2005) is spoken in Kwan's native tongue of Cantonese. The film deals with the issues that arise from the friction between traditional Buddhist beliefs and those of Catholicism for nine year old Eve (Phoebe Kut) growing up in Vancouver. The actress has appeared in three of Kwan's films. The film is "a largely autobiographical tale (of Kwan herself) growing up as a child of immigrants in Vancouver".

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