Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.
He had a multi-disciplinary education in arts, journalism, and photography. In 1998, he met his fellow director/producer Daniel Cross and co-founded with him EyeSteelFilm specializing in making documentaries. He is the vice-president of the company.
He is a graduate of Vanier College and McGill University in 1998. He was an editor of the McGill Daily during his studies. [1]
Aung-Thwin, an award-winning director made the films Chairman George on the stations CTV, BBC's Storyville and TV 2 (Denmark). [2] as a co-director to Daniel Cross. Another co-direction with Cross was Too Colourful for the League, Gemini-nominated TV documentary examining the struggle of blacks in ice hockey from the 1930s to the present day telling the story of black players' courage and determination to play in a white-dominated sport.
To his credit as sole director are the documentary Bone that follows Montreal's Snell Thouin Project with the extraordinary talents of Willy Tsao's Beijing Modern Dance Company, Music for a Blue Train, a documentary about the beauty and hardship of playing music for commuter traffic focussing on Montreal's subway system, The Métro, that has 59 designated spots for musicians to perform for the public and finally Inuuvunga: I Am Inuk, I Am Alive co-directed with fellow EyeSteelFilm directors Daniel Cross, Brett Gaylor and the students of Inukjuak - Innalik School.
He served as cinematographer / producer on S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic, a theatrically released film about a squeegee punk named Roach. He also produced RoachTrip as a follow-up to S.P.I.T.. As director, he won the Golden Sheaf Award at the Yorkton Film Festival in 2006 and as producer, he won a Genie Award for Up the Yangtze in 2009. In 2008 he was executive producer for Antoine. In 2009 he produced RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (producer) and Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam.
In 2022 he was named the winner of the Don Haig Award at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. [3]
S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic is a Canadian 2001 documentary film by Daniel Cross. The narrative unfolds from the point of view of squeegee kids.
Colin Archibald Low was a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was known as a pioneer, one of Canada's most important filmmakers, and was regularly referred to as "the gentleman genius". His numerous honors include five BAFTA awards, eight Cannes Film Festival awards, and six Academy Award nominations.
Brett Gaylor is a Canadian documentary filmmaker living in Victoria, British Columbia. He grew up on Galiano Island, British Columbia. He was formerly the VP of Mozilla's Webmaker Program. His documentary, Do Not Track, explores privacy and the web economy.
HomelessNation.org is a not-for profit organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In order to bridge the digital divide, documentary filmmaker Daniel Cross created HomelessNation.org in 2003. A website by and for the homeless, the resource gives people on the street the opportunity to control their own voice and engage the public in a safe and supportive forum. The site's outreach workers teach computer and media skills to facilitate self-expression and community involvement. Improved knowledge and self-esteem help individuals make healthier life choices and transition off the street. The project has directly impacted thousands of individuals across Canada and is now gaining ground internationally. The project has won 4 major ICT awards, including a prestigious World Summit Award.
Daniel Cross a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.
Chairman George is a 73-minute 2005 Canadian documentary film about the Greek Canadian musician / troubadour and statistician George Sapounidis. The documentary is directed by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin and produced by EyeSteelFilm in association with CTV, BBC's "Storyville" series and TV2.
Yiorgos Sapounidis better known as George Sapounidis is a Greek Canadian musician, troubadour, statistician and a Sinophile living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He was the subject of 2005 Canadian documentary film entitled Chairman George. The documentary, directed by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin and produced by EyeSteelFilm in association with CTV, BBC's "Storyville" series and TV2, tells the story of Sapounidis as a popular musician in China campaigning for approval to perform at the closing ceremonies of 2004 Athens Olympics, when the flag was to be given to Beijing for organizing the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In addition to Greek and Mandarin Chinese, he sings in more than five other languages.
EyeSteelFilm is a Montreal-based Canadian cinema production company co-founded by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin, dedicated to socially engaged cinema, bringing social and political change through cinematic expression. Today the studio is run by co-presidents Mila Aung-Thwin and Bob Moore.
Too Colourful for the League is a 52-minutes 2001 Canadian documentary film made for CBC-TV, directed by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin and produced by Diversus Productions. The film was produced by Evan Beloff, Ari Cohen and Max Wallace, who were nominated for a Gemini Award for best documentary. It was written by Max Wallace and co-produced by Daniel Cross.
Eric Denis better known as Eric "Roach" Denis is a Canadian documentary film maker and activist whose films deal with social justice, and particularly homelessness.
Punk the Vote! is a 73-minute 2006 Canadian documentary about the Canadian elections, and a hilarious and at the same time a critical take on Canadian politics punk-rock style, when two punks decide to run as independent candidates for the Canadian elections. The film is directed by Eric "Roach" Denis of EyeSteelFilm, a Montreal-based documentary production company. It was produced by EyeSteelFilm in association with Canal D Canadian specialty channel specializing in documentaries.
RoachTrip is a 2003 Canadian documentary about two punks, Roach and his friend Smash down the invisible punk highway across Canada. It captures their goal to escape the streets of Montreal as they cross 5,000 km (3,107 mi) to reach the "promised land" of British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.
Inuuvunga: I Am Inuk, I Am Alive is a joint 58-minute 2004 documentary about Inuit high school students in Inukjuak, Nunavik, Quebec, documenting their final year in the high school.
Inukjuak – Innalik School, part of the Kativik School Board, is a primary and secondary school in Inukjuak, Nunavik, Quebec with more than 400 students. The school program is divided into three sections:
Omar Majeed is a Pakistani Canadian film director and producer who studied cinema at York University Film School and later on studied editing at the International Academy of Design in Toronto. He is the son of Pakistani actress and singer Musarrat Nazir. He went on to work as producer Toronto's Citytv and won a Gemini Award for his television work. He also worked with Canada's National Film Board through the Reel Diversity program in Montreal and with EyeSteelFilm.
Last Train Home is a 2009 Canadian documentary film directed by Lixin Fan and produced by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin of EyeSteelFilm. It won the Best Documentary Feature at 2009 IDFA and has been distributed by Zeitgeist Films in the US.
Thomas Cullen Daly was a Canadian film producer, film editor and film director, who was the head of Studio B at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
John Spotton C.S.C. was a Canadian filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada.
Fortunate Son is an autobiographical feature documentary film by Tony Asimakopoulos, a Canadian film director of Greek origin. The film was released in 2011 and produced by Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross and Bob Moore of the Montreal-based film production company, EyeSteelFilm. The film is in English and Greek, with subtitles in English and French. As Asimakopoulos' first documentary, the film has been called "A searing documentary about family" by Liz Braun of the Toronto Sun, as well as "[...] a story of what binds families together, and what it means to be loved" by Daniel Pratt of Exclaim!.
The Don Haig Award is an annual award, presented by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival for distinguished achievement by a Canadian independent documentary film producer with a film in that year's festival program. Despite the requirement to have a film in that year's festival lineup, however, the award is not presented for that specific film, but in consideration of the recipient's overall body of work.