Colleen TungShuen Kwok (b.1987) is a Chinese multidisciplinary filmmaker & photographer. Colleen began her practice in experimental filmmaking while studying at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. There she found her way of composing personal stories with a poetic eye and a quirky twist. With such style, she further pursued filmmaking in New York, received her MFA in directing and cinematography from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and stayed in the city for a decade.

Colleen’s work as both a director and cinematographer has been screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Daytime Emmy Awards, M+ Museum, Gwangju Asia Culture Center, Nowness, and South China Morning Post. Her feature film “THE STARS THE SUN THE MOON, currently in development, received the top prize from the 2022 Hong Kong-Asia Financing Forum (HAF), and the 2021 Script Servicing Award from HAF Film Lab. It is based on the short film of the same title, a coming-of-age drama about two unlikely friends who travel through time in Hong Kong, which premiered at the 9th Hong Kong Fresh Wave International Film Festival. 

During the pandemic, Colleen remigrated to Hong Kong and expanded her work internationally, embarking on projects in almost different countries every month, ranging from large-scale productions to smaller endeavors. She has participated in programs such as Bucheon Fantastic Film School (Korea), Kyoto Filmmakers Lab (Japan), and artist residencies such as Studio Kura (Japan) and Sim Residency (Iceland). Her travel allows her to adapt to new environments and seek out the inherent beauty in diverse cultures, weaving poetic stories inspired by each place she encounters.

Her birth name TungShuen, written as 童旋 in Chinese characters, means the melody of childhood, reflecting her creative spirit. 

[Press]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/Woman-cinematographers-are-few-but-powerful-in-Hong-Kong

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=661089422005517

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3abx8v/watch-hong-kong-films-pop-culture-indie

https://www.ksl.com/article/38383468/spiral-jetty-could-soon-be-utahs-official-work-of-art

https://www.tuyavale.com/colleen-kwok