Cinevolution Media Arts

Cinevolution Media Arts Cinevolution is a grassroots, women-led, migrant-run film and media arts organization.

We foster media literacy, stimulate critical discourse, and bring fresh bold perspectives to intercultural dialogue and experiences of diaspora. Cinevolution is situated on the occupied, traditional and ancestral territories of the hǝn̓q̓ ǝmin̓ ǝm̓ speaking peoples, including the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) and other Coast Salish Nations. Our mission is to promote innovation and critical discourse thr

ough film and media art, bring new ways of thinking and expression into cross-cultural communication, and foster collaboration and exchange amongst filmmakers and media artists in Canada and around the world. Cinevolution was founded in 2007 by three immigrant women — Ying Wang, Rachel Fan, and Lynn Chen — in response to the limited and often disconnected representation of Asia on the big screen. The first and only media arts organization in Richmond, Canada, Cinevolution has been dedicated to making experimental film and media art accessible to all from the start, with a particular focus on connecting immigrants and marginalized communities to mainstream society through participatory media art festivals and events that are international in scope. Over the past decade, Cinevolution has been a leading voice for newcomer communities while promoting independent art practice, interdisciplinary art forms and critical discourse on the complexities of cultural encounters and diasporic identities. Today, Cinevolution’s initial three-women team has grown to include a dynamic group of artists and filmmakers, activists and community organizers.

A BIG thank you to everyone who attended DESIRING BODIES on Sunday, travelling in from far and wide to join the conversa...
07/31/2026

A BIG thank you to everyone who attended DESIRING BODIES on Sunday, travelling in from far and wide to join the conversation on eating disorders, women's bodies, migration, and mental health, in spite of rain and road closures.

Our heartfelt thanks to the filmmakers, Eisha Marjara (), Ying Wang () and Jie Wang, for the fierce honesty of their works.

Thank you to our partners at Connection Salon () -- Pierre Leichner, Kagan Goh, Barbara Tevarotto, Sherine Chan, and many others -- for the opportunity to share this program as the closing event for this year's Mad Pride Festival.

Thank you as well to the National Film Board (@) and Canada Council for the Arts (.council) for their support of the program, and the wonderful team at the Cinematheque for hosting us.

07/26/2026

Tomorrow (Sunday, July 26), for the first time in 20-years, Ying Wang's debut feature SISTERS 姐妹 will be shown on the big screen at the Cinematheque. The sisters -- Ying and Jie -- will come together for a conversation following the screening.

In an updated director's note for the film written in 2025, Ying writes:

"Two decades have passed since we completed SISTERS. Back then, it was the first film on this topic made by ethnic Chinese filmmakers. Watching it now, I’m proud of Jie’s courage and honesty.

The film is raw, provocative, and bold. It seeks to look beyond the visible suffering, attempting to probe the deeper causes of mental problems: the invisible forces of suppression of modern society, the loneliness and vulnerability of the human soul, and the restless craving for acceptance and belonging. With the little money we could put together and zero filmmaking experience at the time, I’m proud of what we achieved.

Today, the film feels more relevant now than ever. Eating disorders are no longer a Western phenomenon. Over the years, we’ve received increasing inquiries about the film. This is why we plan to re-release it, hoping it can reach and connect with those who suffer in silence, who struggle with loneliness, and who long for a sense of companionship."

SISTERS 姐妹
Director: Ying Wang | 2005 | 86 min | Drama

In a sparsely furnished apartment in an unnamed city, two sisters live together, bound by love and fragile dependency. As the younger battles a severe eating disorder, the older struggles to keep herself—and her sister—afloat. But the closer she gets, the more the line between savior and self-destruction begins to blur.

Sisters was born from the true experiences of Ying Wang and her younger sister Jie, who developed a severe eating disorder after immigrating to North America. In 2002, the sisters began co-writing the screenplay. With the help of friends and their modest savings, they completed the film between 2004 and 2005. Jie portrayed Ping, a fictionalized version of herself. Acting became a liberating act—her first real chance to speak her truth. The film marked the beginning of her slow but steady recovery.

07/25/2026

Watch Director Eisha Marjara's beautiful and evocative documentary short AM I THE SKINNIEST PERSON YOU'VE EVER SEEN? at The Cinematheque tomorrow, Sunday, July 26 at 12:30pm.

"Growing up was hard for me. Turning 11 was not welcome. It was letting go, leaving behind, saying goodbye. It was grief after grief. Leaving childhood happened without my permission. My body called the shots and there was nothing I could do about it....The film is an ode to the experience of turning from caterpillar to butterfly. The pain and contortions of leaving childhood and becoming a grown-up woman."

The film plays alongside SISTERS, directed by Ying Wang, as the closing event for this year's Mad Pride Festival, organized by our friends at the Connection Salon.

Only a handful a tickets left! Reserve your spot at
>>tinyurl.com/desiring-bodies

※The program contains imagery of anorexia, eating disorders, and self harm. Please take care.

AM I THE SKINNIEST PERSON YOU'VE EVER SEEN?
Director: Eisha Marjara | 2024 | 24 min | Short Documentary

“Hey, let’s go on a diet together.” As kids in a small Quebec town, Eisha and Seema were more than sisters, they were soul mates, and a joint diet offered a shared sense of purpose.

But their carefree project would take a dark turn, pushing Eisha to the very brink of death. Consumed by anorexia, she found herself battling her own fragile body—stranded between childhood and adulthood.

Decades later, she revisits her past in an exquisitely crafted work of auto-ethnography, evoking her unusual youth with aching lyricism. In addressing a tender love letter to the troubled girl she once was, she reaches contemporary audiences with a timely reflection on body image and self-acceptance.

Film courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.

07/25/2026

Watch Director Eisha Marjara's beautiful and evocative documentary short AM I THE SKINNIEST PERSON YOU'VE EVER SEEN? at The Cinematheque tomorrow, Sunday, July 26 at 12:30pm.

"Growing up was hard for me. Turning 11 was not welcome. It was letting go, leaving behind, saying goodbye. It was grief after grief. Leaving childhood happened without my permission. My body called the shots and there was nothing I could do about it....The film is an ode to the experience of turning from caterpillar to butterfly. The pain and contortions of leaving childhood and becoming a grown-up woman."

The film plays alongside SISTERS, directed by Ying Wang, as the closing event for this year's Mad Pride Festival, organized by our friends at the Connection Salon.

Only a handful a tickets left! Reserve your spot at
>>tinyurl.com/desiring-bodies

AM I THE SKINNIEST PERSON YOU'VE EVER SEEN?
Director: Eisha Marjara | 2024 | 24 min | Short Documentary

“Hey, let’s go on a diet together.” As kids in a small Quebec town, Eisha and Seema were more than sisters, they were soul mates, and a joint diet offered a shared sense of purpose.

But their carefree project would take a dark turn, pushing Eisha to the very brink of death. Consumed by anorexia, she found herself battling her own fragile body—stranded between childhood and adulthood.

Decades later, she revisits her past in an exquisitely crafted work of auto-ethnography, evoking her unusual youth with aching lyricism. In addressing a tender love letter to the troubled girl she once was, she reaches contemporary audiences with a timely reflection on body image and self-acceptance.

Film courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.

Ying Wang and Jie Wang are the two sister-artists behind the film SISTERS (2005), based on Jie's real life struggles wit...
07/23/2026

Ying Wang and Jie Wang are the two sister-artists behind the film SISTERS (2005), based on Jie's real life struggles with eating disorders.

Entirely self-taught and self-funded, the film will be shown in cinema for the first time in 20-years at The Cinematheque this Sunday, July 26. Both Ying and Jie will be in attendance to share the story behind this raw and unflinching work that not only confronts the reality of eating disorders, but the complex relationship between Chinese women's bodies, isolation, desire, and the longing to be free.

YING WANG
As a migrant navigating between cultures, Ying is drawn to stories that probe the complexities of humanity and question accepted narratives. Her younger sister’s struggle with mental illness after immigrating to North America inspired her debut feature, SISTERS, and led her onto the creative path as a self-taught filmmaker. Her critically acclaimed documentary feature THE WORLD IS BRIGHT (2019) received the Sea to Sky Award at VIFF and the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award at Hot Docs.

Ying's latest film THE BORDER (2026) is a beautiful observational documentary in which a border park between the US and Canada becomes the stage where families, lovers, and displaced souls navigate the tightening grip of political change—and the stark loss of the last shared space between the two nations.

JIE WANG
Jie Wang immigrated to the United States in 1993 when she just turned 20 and landed in South Carolina. Both her parents are scientists, so she was expected to follow the parents’ footsteps to study computer science. Eventually, she realized that her real passion was visual art and decided to go to school for graphic design to pursue her dream.

In the early 2000s, she moved to Vancouver Canada to live with her older sister Ying for a few years. While recovering from Eating Disorders, she studied New Media Design and Web Development at BCIT.

Currently, Jie lives in Seattle, State of Washington and works as a web design manager. She loves nature and animals, and enjoys two companions in her life: a German Shepherd dog and a Jeep. The three of them explore Washington state together, from coast to mountains

Meet Eisha Marjara, the writer, director, and cineaste behind AM I THE SKINNIEST PERSON YOU'VE EVER SEEN? (2024), playin...
07/22/2026

Meet Eisha Marjara, the writer, director, and cineaste behind AM I THE SKINNIEST PERSON YOU'VE EVER SEEN? (2024), playing at The Cinematheque on Sunday July 26 as part of the Desiring Bodies double bill film screening curated by Cinevolution for Connection Salon's Mad Pride Festival.

Eisha has made several award-winning films, including Locarno’s Prix de la Semaine de Critique winner DESPARATELY SEEKING HELEN (2000), which has been described as “one of the most auspicious film debuts on the Canadian scene.”

VENUS (2017), a dramatic comedy about a transgender woman who discovers that she has a teenage son, won the EDA Award for Best Feature at the Whistler Film Festival and Best Feature Film at Cinequest, among other accolades. Eisha's debut YA novel FAERIE, which traces a South Asian teenager’s downward spiral into life-threatening illness, budding sexuality and complicated recovery from anorexia, also received rave reviews in the Canadian and American press. Her latest dramatic feature CALORIE follows three generations of women whose present and past lives collide during an emotionally packed summer in India.

AM I THE SKINNIEST PERSON YOU'VE EVER SEEN? was the winner of the Best Canadian short film at Hot Docs , Best Short at FrontDoc in Italy and at Il Tudo Verdade.

Register at the link at our bio to watch it this weekend!
⇒ tinyurl.com/desiring-bodies

Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.

06/25/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out to last night's screening of "Celestial Q***r". It was a magical evening full of tenderness and wonder ✨

Heartfelt thanks to Eryn Foster and Sue Johnson for sharing your stories of Jim and your epic journey to make this film so generously.

If you missed it, you have one more chance to see "Celestial Q***r" in Vancouver tonight, 7pm at Cineworks - Vancouver. Doors open at 6:30pm. Bring your friends!!

06/23/2026

Join us for a special Pride Month Screening of "Celestial Q***r" on June 24, 6:30pm at Richmond Cultural Centre. Directors Eryn Foster (Halifax) and Sue Johnson (Toronto) will be in attendance for a talkback after the screening!

"Celestial Q***r: The Life, Work, and Wonder of James MacSwain" is the portrait of a singular artist making sense of this messy, post-capitalist world through surrealism, symbolism, and a voice so distinct and effusive that it feels beamed in from a dark corner of some future stratosphere.

Directors Eryn Foster and Sue Johnson began collaborating on this film in summer 2013, and went on compiling footage for almost a decade to tell the story of this quietly outspoken feminist, naturalist and gay-rights activist.

EVENT DETAILS
🎬 Screening + Talkback // "Celestial Q***r: The Life, Work, and Wonder of James MacSwain"
📅 Wednesday, June 24
⏰ 6:30pm - 8:30pm (Doors 6:00pm)
📍 Theatre Under the Stairs, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC

🎟️ Tickets at https://tinyurl.com/celestial-q***r

Celestial Q***r has received multiple awards including Best Atlantic Documentary at the Atlantic International Film Festival in 2023 and Best Feature Documentary at Silverwave Film Festival in 2024.

This event is presented in partnership with the City of Richmond. The filmmakers' cross-country tour is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada.

***rfilm ***rcommunity ***rhistory

Our friends at Story Money Impact have a call for applications open for their program, STORY TO ACTION. They'll select t...
06/10/2026

Our friends at Story Money Impact have a call for applications open for their program, STORY TO ACTION. They'll select three documentary films that address pressing social and environmental issues and support those projects with the creation of impact strategies, outreach to community partners, and the hosting of screenings and panels with the goal of using the film as a tool to create positive change.

If you have a Canadian documentary that can change the world, apply now at www.storymoneyimpact.com/sta6

Deadline: July 6th, 2026

Who was James MacSwain? 📅 Wednesday, June 24⏰ 6:30pm - 8:30pm (Doors 6:00pm)📍 Theatre Under the Stairs, 7700 Minoru Gate...
06/06/2026

Who was James MacSwain?

📅 Wednesday, June 24
⏰ 6:30pm - 8:30pm (Doors 6:00pm)
📍 Theatre Under the Stairs, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC

Tickets at in link in bio!

Equal parts art project, history lesson, and whimsy, "Celestial Q***r: The Life, Work, and Wonder of James MacSwain" offers a portrait of an artist who defied convention for a life lived on his own terms. Directors Eryn Foster and Sue Johnson spent a decade checking in with the witty, erudite MacSwain as he moved about his life in north end Halifax, returned to his tiny rural hometown of Amherst, Nova Scotia—where he grew up, unable to pass for straight, in the 1950s—and discussed his lifelong, wildly inventive art practice.

The playful, q***r work is cut out, glued together, and sung into intricate collages, analogue films combining handmade animation with documentary and provocative exhibitions. Johnson and Foster, who knew MacSwain for decades until his death in 2025, combine myriad formats in the production (including 16mm, Super-8, and digital video) for an intimate patchwork celebration reflective of their subject’s own body of work. Celestial Q***r now stands as an elegy for a man who was defiantly original, internationally renowned, and an icon of artistic integrity. James MacSwain lived how he wanted—unabashed, uncompromising, and unforgettable.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The filmmakers gratefully acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts & Arts NS for supporting their cross-Canada tour of Celestial Q***r: The Life, Work and Wonder of James MacSwain.

Address

Richmond, BC

Telephone

+17788037150

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