Kagan Goh
Writer | Director | Actor
Originally from Singapore, Kagan Goh is a Vancouver-based Chinese Canadian BIPOC multidisciplinary artist: award-wining filmmaker, published author, spoken word poet, playwright, actor, mental health advocate and activist. He was diagnosed with manic depression at the age of twenty-three, in 1993. Kagan is a well-known spoken word artist, essayist and poet, a respected and established voice in Vancouver’s literary community for over two decades. He has been invited to perform at readings, festivals and on radio, and has published in numerous anthologies, periodicals, and magazines.
In 2012, Select Books in Singapore published his poetic memoir, focused upon his relationship with his esteemed father, Who Let in the Sky? Kagan’s follow-up memoir, Surviving Samsara, which recounts his struggles with manic depression, breaking the silence around mental illness, was published by Caitlin Press in Winter 2021. Kagan is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker with a number of releases including the award-winning Mind Fuck (1996); Stolen Memories (2012); Breaking the Silence (2015); and The Day My Cat Saved My Life (2021); his films have been broadcast on national television and gained entry into respected film festivals across Canada.
SELECTED PROJECTS
THE DAY MY CAT SAVED MY LIFE (2021) - Writer/Producer/Director/Actor
Based on a true-life story of a severe psychotic episode which brings the narrator to the brink of suicide, where he is eventually found and saved by his cat.
Running time: 7.26 minutes
BREAKING THE SILENCE (2015) - Writer/Director/Producer
Documentary about Akihide John Otsuji, a Japanese-Canadian man, who was unjustly imprisoned after the Japanese internment. His sister sets out on a quest to clear her brother’s name and redress the wrongs of the past.
Running time: 26 minutes
STOLEN MEMORIES (2012) - Writer/Director/Producer*
A detective story about filmmaker Kagan Goh’s personal quest to return a photo album that was stolen from a Japanese Canadian family during the Japanese Canadian internment. Broadcaster OMNI has acquired first windows.
Running time: 43 minutes
INVOCATION (2000) - Director/Producer
A video poem for Spoken Word Artist T. Paul Saint Marie, an ex-drug addict visiting his old haunts in the Downtown
Eastside.
Running time: 5 minutes
FREIGHT TRAIN LAND (2002) - Director/Producer
A hip hop opera written and directed by C.R. Avery that addresses issues of the Downtown Eastside
such as poverty, drug addiction and prostitution.
Running time: 10 minutes
MIND FUCK (1996) - Writer/Director/Producer**
A brave foray into the strange and fascinating psychological world of phone sex in which the real operators, normally
stuck on the receiving end of the line, finally get to freely speak their minds.
Running time: 26 minutes
THE HAJ (1994) - Writer/Director/Producer
A beatnik love story about two strangers who meet through a telephone dating service and embark upon an unorthodox
date that turns into an unexpected spiritual adventure.
Running time: 26 minutes
SELECTED SCREENINGS:
MENTAL FILMNESS FILM FESTIVAL
NIKKEI CENTRE
FESTIVAL DU NOUVEAU MONDE
WIDE ANGLE MEDIA FESTIVAL
ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH FESTIVAL
CASCADIA MOVING IMAGES FESTIVAL
EDUCATION
DIRECTING INTENSIVE - SCOTT SWANN, SEACOAST STUDIOS (2014)
DIRECTING ESSENTIALS - PETER D. MARSHALL, RAINDANCE VANCOUVER (2013)
FILM DIRECTING - BRUCE SWEENEY, CINEWORKS (2012)
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY - THE WRITER’S STUDIO (2010-2016)
RYERSON UNIVERSITY - BA FILM STUDIES PROGRAM (1996)
MEMBERSHIPS/CLUBS
VIVO MEDIA ARTS
CINEWORKS
AWARDS
STOLEN MEMORIES
EMPOWERED FILMMAKER AWARD - WORLD POETRY PEACE & HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL (2014)
MIND FUCK
1st PLACE: LONG DOCUMENTARY - TVO TELEFEST ’96, TORONTO, ON (1996)
2nd PLACE: INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION - CASCADIA MOVING IMAGES FESTIVAL (1996)
2nd PLACE: DOCUMENTARY, STUDENT CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (1996)
NOMINATION: GOLDEN SHEAF AWARD: BEST DOCUMENTARY UNDER 30 MIN
YORKTON SHORT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL, SK (1996)
