Private Project

Ode to Vivian Jung

A short poetry film about Vancouver's first Chinese Canadian teacher hired by the Vancouver School Board in 1950 who played a role in desegregating a local public pool.

  • Analee Weinberger
    Director
    Blood Relations
  • Fiona Tinwei Lam
    Writer
    Utility Pole, Plasticnic, Plasticpoems, Omelet, Aquarium, Chrysanthemum
  • Fiona Tinwei Lam
    Producer
    Utility Pole, Plasticnic, Plasticpoems, Drunken Laundry Day with Charles Bukowski, Omelet, Aquarium, Chrysanthemum
  • Fiona Tinwei Lam
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short, Other
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes 27 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 24, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4K digital video
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Tecumseh Elementary School End of Year Assembly
    Vancouver
    Canada
    June 25, 2024
  • City of Vancouver Book Awards Ceremony 2025
    Vancouver
    Canada
    October 25, 2024
Director Biography - Analee Weinberger

Analee Weinberger is a filmmaker, media educator and producer based in Vancouver, BC who specializes in documentary video as a tool for community engagement and creative expression. She has a background in studio photography and an interest in incorporating non-traditional documentary techniques such as animation and video poetry in her work. She is a former education director at The Cinematheque in Vancouver, has worked at Necessary Illusions, a Montreal-based documentary production company, and holds a master’s degree in social work from McGill University.

Fiona Tinwei Lam is a Vancouver poet, writer, editor, anthologist, and instructor. She was Vancouver's poet laureate 2022-2024. Her poetry videos made in collaboration with animators and filmmakers have screened at festivals internationally. fionalam.net

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This poetry video arises from a collaborative poem composed by Vancouver's sixth poet laureate, Fiona Tinwei Lam, that assembled, arranged and integrated lines from poems by twenty-seven students at Tecumseh Elementary School in East Vancouver. The poet laureate worked with videographer Analee Weinberger to put together this poetry video to depict how allyship made a difference in the fight to overturn segregation at a local public pool.

This poetry video was part of the Vancouver Poet Laureate's City Poems Project, which had the aim of generating poems and poetry videos about local historical, cultural and ecological sites and events.