The Prop Master’s Dream
short doc, 2025, director
The Prop Master’s Dream is an experimental opera inspired by the true-life story of Wah-Kwan Gwan 關華坤 (1929-2000), a legendary prop master born to a Chinese father and an Indigenous mother in BC.
I co-authored the opera script with Rosa Cheng and Leo Lee, and co-produced this new work in collaboration with Vancouver Cantonese Opera. The sold-out debut performance was held at the Annex Theatre, Vancouver, Nov 5, 2022.
I’m currently directing a short documentary about the making of this unique opera. It will be the first film to provide an insider’s perspective on Cantonese opera in North America – the cultural heartbeat of Chinatowns everywhere. Produced by Martyna Czaplak, edited by Greg Czaplak. (forthcoming 2025).
Read more about the film here and an essay about Wah-Kwan here.
My Father’s Family
feature doc, 2021, producer
An exiled Chinese-American poet returns with his daughters to his childhood home in rural China, in search of what happened to his family after losing contact with them for three decades after the Communist Revolution.
This feature documentary, directed by my sister Miranda Liu, follows the story of our father Stephen Shu-Ning Liu (1930-2014), an accomplished poet and one of the earliest Asian Americans to publish widely in the United States. I supported the project as one of its producers for the on-site filming in Sichuan, China.
A Pregnant Woman
short doc, 2021, associate producer
An eight-and-a-half month pregnant Alejandra is on the road and on the run from an abusive husband. She drives to a remote desert, hiding a heavy secret inside a dusty piece of luggage. Undocumented and exhausted with nowhere to go, she drags the heavy suitcase to the middle of nowhere, burning all the remains of her past.
Directed by Ana Carrizales.
A-Yi
short doc, 2020, cultural advisor
After years of partying and living together, the young residents of the “Whale House” in East Vancouver have learned their landlord is selling the property and they’ll have to move out. But how do they tell A-Yi?
As long as they’ve lived here, A-Yi (Cantonese for “auntie”) has been a fixture of their daily lives. The elderly Chinese woman started out looking for a spot to store her buggy and recyclables, but over the years she began growing vegetables in their backyard and forged a strong bond with the housemates, despite no shared language. Can the roommates overcome the language barrier to tell A-Yi that they are moving and she will probably lose access to their space? And what will happen to her when they’re gone?
Directed by Martyna Czaplak. Watch the doc below:
April Liu, PhD 