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60 / People

Speak for the

Unspoken

Documentary director Joanna Bowers talks about
her film projects, her values, and her goals as a
filmmaker

By Patricia Ricafort
Joanna Bowers, now based in Hong
Kong, has worked as a director since
2009. (Photo courtesy of Joanna Bowers)

hile some local directors Kong has allowed her to discover It hadn’t occurred to me that it was
are stepping out of Hong and explore unique stories that she possible for a woman to be a director
WKong, Joanna Bowers would not have been able to access if of a film at that level,” she says.
moved here to embark on her ca- she was living elsewhere.
reer in film. In 2017, she produced An Untold Story
a documentary, The Helper, which First Time as a Director “I strive to tell those stories that
follows the lives and struggles of do- Before that, the first directing op- haven’t been told before to help the
mestic helpers in Hong Kong. portunity came to Joanna Bowers person that has been overlooked
In 2011, while Bowers was in Los unexpectedly. In 2009, her friend to get their perspective out in the
Angeles, her friend, who was mov- Maureen Ganz had written a short world,” says Bowers. “The more di-
ing to Hong Kong, convinced Bow- film, Inviolate Rose, and he ap- versity and different perspectives we
ers to accompany her to help with proached Bowers to direct it. can understand, the better for us.”
finding an apartment. While she “After my first day on set, work- Bowers once co-wrote a romantic
was in Hong Kong, she met the CEO ing on this short film, I realised I comedy featuring an interracial rela-
of a manufacturing company, who love it! This is brilliant!” she says. tionship between a Caucasian wom-
gave her a directing opportunity Inviolate Rose is based on a true an and an Asian man. While she was
that kept her here. story of Maureen Ganz and her two able to get funding for the film, she
Now, almost ten years after she sisters, who travelled to Ireland to had a hard time finding a distribu-
first moved to Hong Kong, she sees scatter their mother’s ashes after her tion company because the lead in
herself staying here. “I think there’s death from cancer. her story is an Asian male.
a lot more opportunities in Hong Prior to directing her first film, “When my producers went to
Kong. Hong Kong has a certain vi- she never believed that a woman the Cannes Film Festival to try and
brancy and grittiness, and there are could become a director. get some pre-sales on the film, they
many unique things about Hong “I remember, years ago, seeing came back to me and said, ‘We’re
Kong that are interesting and attrac- Jane Campion’s film The Piano that having a difficult time selling this
tive,” she says. was nominated for the Oscar, and I film because it’s got an Asian male
She believes that living in Hong remember being really taken aback. romantic lead. Nobody seems to