World Premiere of Jennifer Chiu's First Feature Documentary, Clan Of The Painted Lady, at VIFF--October 6 & 9

Photo credit: Betsy Chiu

Playing October 6 at 6:00 p.m. at Fifth Avenue Theatre and October 9 at 3:30 p.m. at VIFF Center

Book tickets: https://viff.org/whats-on/viff25-clan... The 44th Vancouver International Film Festival runs from October 2 to October 12, 2025. For more, visit viff.

Vancouver--Hakka-Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Chiu’s engrossing feature documentary, Clan of the Painted Lady, will have its World Premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) on October 6th and 9th.  In this personal film journey, director/producer Jennifer Chiu reaches into her family’s history to explore the Hakka — a people, a language, and a culture that have been obscured for far too long. 

Tracing her own lineage back from Canada to China to Kolkata, India, the director creates an illuminating, bravely personal film. Through her own story, Jennifer explores the weight of parent-child separation, which migration often entails, and the loss and disconnection between generations that must somehow be healed. Thought to hail from the north of China, the Hakka settled in the southern part of the country, where they were known as the “guest people.” In the face of war, poverty and social marginalization, many of them dispersed to places such as Mauritius, India, Jamaica, and Canada — including BC’s Lower Mainland, where Chiu spent much of her childhood.

The director’s reach is as expansive as her people’s migratory spread: Using found Super 8 footage, she explores the Hakka’s history in India, and through candid, probing interviews with relatives and community leaders, she brings forth a search for belonging in a centuries-long story of migration. Chiu has made a warm and introspective film that is never weighed down by its explorations of family secrecy, the costs of assimilation, or the very uncertain future of Hakka culture. 

Clan of the Painted Lady follows Jennifer’s personal journey from China to Canada to India, as she discovers why her family moved and how they keep their heritage alive while adapting to new places. With an ensemble of Hakka voices from around the world, the film explores how culture is transmitted from one generation to another, and the challenge of defining identity within a diaspora.

Clan of the Painted Lady is produced by Jennifer Chiu’s company, Amino Acid Technology, and commissioned by Knowledge Network, British Columbia’s public broadcaster and streaming service.

Jennifer Chiu is an award-winning writer, director, producer and documentary researcher living in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her dramatic feature INEDIA, and short films Memory of the Peace and CABBIE, have screened at festivals around the world, including DOK Leipzig, the Edinburgh Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, the Mill Valley Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Film Festival.  Clan of the Painted Lady is her first feature documentary.

Chiu’s production team includes Creative Producer Bradley Keeling, Consulting Producer Sarah Jane Flynn, Cinematographer Antonia Ramirez, Co-writer and Editor: Aynsley Baldwin and Co-Composers and Co-Sound Designers Scott Gailey and Oscar Vargas.

Clan of the Painted Lady is produced by Amino Acid Technology in association with Knowledge Network.  Developed and produced with the participation of The Canadian Media Fund, Creative BC and the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. Produced with the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.  Developed with the financial participation of Telefilm Canada and the Bell Fund.