PROFILE

Jimmy Lo is a Hong Kong-born, Vancouver/Hong Kong-based filmmaker, educator, and curator. His debut feature documentary, Stories of Pang Jai (2020), was funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Hong Kong Documentary Initiative, and was executive produced by Oscar-winning documentarian Ruby Yang. In 2020, the film was nominated for the Human Rights Award at the South Taiwan Film Festival, streamed in eight Asian countries, and screened internationally in Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. His other films, Yung Yung (2016), In(ex)ception (2018), and Midnight Congee (2023), were screened at the Hong Kong Chinese Documentary Festival 2016, 1a space, and Hatch Art Gallery, respectively.

Jimmy has been in the teaching profession for the last eight years. In 2017, he started working as an instructor in documentary filmmaking community courses, including the ‘Jockey Club Film Bridge Programme’ and the ‘Silver Shining Documentary Course’ held by Visible Record, Hong Kong. His students' short documentaries, Granny (2018) and Doorway (2018), garnered Honorary Mentions at the Sundance Film Festival Hong Kong in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and were screened internationally in Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, and the United Kingdom, as well as at film festivals such as the Hong Kong International Documentary Festival and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Jimmy teaches documentary filmmaking at the undergraduate and master’s degree levels. He co-teaches, with Dr. Esther Yau, ‘Screen Documentaries’ offered by MALCS, Department of Comparative Literature, The University of Hong Kong. Over the course of his teaching journey, Jimmy has taught more than 700 students.

Since 2023, Jimmy has served as the Features Programmer for the Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF). VAFF is dedicated to showcasing films by Asian filmmakers and promoting cultural diversity and inclusion through the big screen. This role aligns with his belief in film as a powerful medium for exploration, expression, engagement, and empowerment. Since 2024, Jimmy has co-curated the UBC-based film festival, ‘Asian Independent Cinema Showcase’ (AICS), with Dr. Helena Wu. AICS aims to promote independent films by Asian filmmakers and foster a film appreciation community in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Currently, Jimmy is co-curating, with Dr. Winnie Yee, the new HKU-based documentary film festival, ‘Documenting Hong Kong’, which will be held in Fall 2024.

Jimmy holds a BA (First Class Honours) in Strategic Communication from City University of Hong Kong, an MA in Visual Culture Studies from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and an MFA in Film Production from The University of British Columbia.