Leslie Cheung
Chinese Canadian Museum · Museum film · 2025
Director
Ryan Mah
Producer
Joanna Wong
Commissioned by
Chinese Canadian Museum
Filming locations
Vancouver & Hong Kong
Through the music and enduring legacy of Leslie Cheung, a film about Cantopop, migration and the sound of home between Hong Kong and Vancouver.
The story
For generations of Chinese Canadians, Cantopop was more than a soundtrack. Its familiar voices travelled across oceans, filling living rooms, car stereos and karaoke bars with memories of home. Leslie Cheung’s music became part of that shared language of identity, longing and belonging.
Filmed in Vancouver and Hong Kong, this museum film explores the connections between music, memory and migration. Through personal reflections, archival imagery and the people who continue to carry Leslie’s legacy, it considers how a pop icon’s influence reaches across places and generations.
Created for the Chinese Canadian Museum’s Dream Factory: Cantopop Mandopop 1980s–2000 exhibition, the film was presented within the museum as part of an exploration of the cultural exchange between Asia and Canada.
Project milestones
The Chinese Canadian Museum’s Dream Factory exhibition, which included our film, was recognized by the Canadian Museums Association.
