By: Ashima Shukla, Staff Writer
What started as a class project has since turned into a creative awakening for Kitty Cheung, SFU alum and former Peak staff. Bringing together poetry, live action, and illustration, the short film Ad Hominem 2 is a bold act of creative resistance on many levels. Using SFU lecturer Chantal Gibson’s poem Add Hominem, this film perfectly encapsulates the quiet discomfort of complicity.
Starring Claret Egwim-Nwagbara, the film spans across multiple SFU campuses, with scenic shots punctuated by hand-drawn illustrations — a metaphoric graffiti defacing colonial symbols — to the rhythm of Gibson’s words. These animations, painstakingly drawn frame by frame, intervene and disrupt our colonial history without erasing it. Instead, they guide the eye to interrogate the symbols we take for granted at SFU and across Metro Vancouver. As Cheung told The Peak, the animations and typography were inspired by historical colonial illustrations, co-opted to visualize not just rage but also the scribbled and wild form of the poem itself.
As a viewer, the film’s cohesiveness is a testament to the deeply collaborative process of its making. As Cheung explained, each of her teammates brought unique strengths to this project. While Rania Abdulaziz was in charge of the illustrations, Brent Waldbillig focused on sound design and Patricia Sugiarta and Cheung herself worked on editing. “All four of us have filmed shots that ended up in the final film,” Cheung said. From creating the storyboard and compiling shotlists, to incorporating feedback from their classmates, the film is a product of true teamwork.
Originally created as a coursework for IAT 344 (Moving Images), the film’s visual inventiveness caught the eye of curators and judges across the globe. It has been accepted into several film international festivals, including ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival in Germany, Drumshanbo Written Word Poetry Film Competition in Ireland, Living With Buildings – VI in the UK, Midwest Video Poetry Fest in the USA, alongside a screening at the Vancouver Public Library Poetry Month Video Poems.
Cheung realised that the making of this film has allowed her to resist the “voice of capitalist society” that says “you need a proper, stable job.”
Cheung credited the “the incredibly helpful” guidance of mentors in achieving this outreach and recognition. Dr. Kate Hennessy, the instructor of IAT 344, offered encouragement and practical insight into creating festival submission packages. Also of importance to the work was Vancouver’s 2022–24 Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam, who helped the team navigate the process of adapting a poem into cinema over multiple drafts. In this, Chantal Gibson herself was consulted early on, “to make sure our interpretations were faithful to what she was intending.” As Cheung said, “We were being careful and respectful around this conversation on colonialism, regarding my position as a filmmaker living and studying on unceded lands, and attending this university named after a colonizer.”
Upon receiving the first acceptance from Ireland, Cheung recalled, “I opened my email and just jumped out of my chair.” Aspiring to be an artist since she was a child, Cheung realized the making of this film has allowed her to resist “this voice of capitalist society” that says “you need a proper, stable job.” Cheung confessed that discovering such worldwide awareness was “encouraging,” and motivated her to continue creating.
“To know that my existence [and] my ability to live in Metro Vancouver — while I am incredibly grateful to live here — is made possible through colonization and genocide and horrible violence is heavy,” Cheung reflected. However, to her, this is part of a “continual conversation to keep having.” Currently working on a new poetry collection inspired by Vancouver’s Chinatown and her own experience growing up among the East Asian diaspora, Cheung continues to interrogate identity, loss, belonging, and memory in her creative work. But like many emerging artists, she also finds herself negotiating the tension between passion and pressure — “the reality is, I do need a job.” However, Cheung is hopeful of finding a balance between life and work that also enables her to continue creating.
To other creatives who are also driven to make something, Cheung quoted Doechii’s post-Grammys instagram live, “Just try things.” She explained, “I found it really encouraging because it is so simple.” To every artist out there striving for change, she wanted to pass on a message: “Put your work out there because you never know what might happen. You might win a Grammy, you might get accepted into international film festivals! Who knows? Just try it. Allow yourself the time and space and resources to pursue your dreams.”
