Ann Marie Fleming facts for kids

Ann Marie Fleming is a talented Canadian filmmaker, writer, and visual artist. She makes her own movies and art. Ann Marie was born in Okinawa, which is now part of Japan, in 1962. Her family has roots in Chinese, Ryukyuan, and Australian cultures. One of her well-known films, Window Horses, was released in 2016.

Ann Marie Fleming also made an animated movie called The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam in 2003. This film won awards for being the best documentary at film festivals. It tells the story of her great-grandfather, Long Tack Sam, who was a famous magician, acrobat, and vaudeville performer from China.

Ann Marie's Journey in Film

Ann Marie Fleming studied many things to become the artist she is today. She earned a degree in English from the University of British Columbia in 1984. Later, she studied animation at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the Open University, finishing in 1989. She continued her education, getting a master's degree from Simon Fraser University in 1992.

After her studies, Ann Marie joined special film programs. She was a resident at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) in Toronto from 1992 to 1993. She also spent time as an artist in residence in Germany from 1994 to 1995.

Ann Marie helped start a company called Global Mechanic in Vancouver. This company creates animation, films, and designs. She also shared her knowledge with students at the University of British Columbia. From 2015 to 2016, she mentored students who wanted to learn about filmmaking.

Ann Marie Fleming became known in the art world in the 1980s. She was part of a group of visual artists who also started making films. She met actress Sandra Oh in 1994. Years later, in 2014, Ann Marie asked Sandra Oh to do voice-over work for her animated movie, Window Horses. Many people helped fund this film through crowdfunding.

Meet Stick Girl

When Ann Marie was an animation student, she had a car accident. This made it hard for her to move much. She could only draw small, simple shapes. This led her to create her famous character, 'Stick Girl'. Stick Girl has two slanted black lines for eyes, which shows Ann Marie's Asian background.

Ann Marie uses Stick Girl to represent herself in her films. For example, Stick Girl appears in The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam. Stick Girl also plays the character Rosie Ming in Window Horses. Rosie Ming is an Asian-Canadian poet with Chinese and Persian family roots.

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (2003)

While recovering from her accident, Ann Marie found old 16 mm film reels. These were home movies of her great-grandfather, Long Tack Sam. She was curious about how a Chinese man became a successful vaudeville star. This was during a time in the early 1900s when there was a lot of tension and prejudice. Her film shows that he was famous around the world, but later forgotten.

In the movie, Ann Marie herself is a narrator and a character. She travels around the world, following her great-grandfather's path. She visits places like Canada, the United States, China, England, and Austria. Her journey to learn about him is tricky because different stories about his past come up.

Ann Marie mixes different ways of telling a story in her film. She uses comic-book style drawings for Long Tack Sam's early life. She also animates characters from old photographs. She combines these with interviews, her own first-person narration, and old footage. This helps her explore the idea that there isn't always just one simple truth.

This film is like a 'family portrait documentary'. It blends Ann Marie's own life with her family's history. For example, the film shows how movies started to become popular, which affected vaudeville. The documentary is important for Asian Canadian culture. It helps Ann Marie claim a place for her ancestor, and for herself, in Canada's history. The film also helps us think about cultural differences and ethnic identity.

In 2007, Ann Marie Fleming turned the film into a graphic novel. This book won an award in 2008 and was nominated for two other awards.

Ann Marie Fleming's Films

Ann Marie Fleming has made many films throughout her career. Here is a list of some of her works:

• Waving (1987)
• You Take Care Now (1989)
• New Shoes: an interview in exactly 5 minutes (1990)
• Pioneers of X-Ray Technology (1991)
• So Far So... (1992)
• It's Me, Again (1993)
• Buckingham Palace (1993)
• La Fabula della bella Familia auf du World (1993)
• My Boyfriend Gave Me Peaches (1994)
• I Love My Work (1994)
• Pleasure Film (Ahmed's Story) (1995)
• Automatic Writing (1996)
• Great Expectations: not what you're thinking (1997)
• AMF's Tiresias (1998)
• One & Only (1999)
• Hysterical: the musical (2000)
• Lip Service: a mystery (2001)
• Aguas de Março (2002)
• Blue Skies (2002)
• The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (2003)
• Room 710 (2005)
• The French Guy (2005)
• My Obscure Object of Desire (2006)
• Running (2008)
• Landslide (2008)
• My Place webisodes (2009)
• Window Horses Karaoke Project (2009)
• I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors (2010)
• Gluttony (2011)
• Big Trees (2013)
• Window Horses (2016)
• Vancouver April 2020 18:59:30 PT (2020)
• Can I Get a Witness? (2024)

See also

In Spanish: Ann Marie Fleming para niños