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Charmaine Yu

Director Xiaodan He immigrated from China to Montreal, Canada, 24 years ago. While many of her previous film projects were filmed in China, she returned to the French-speaking city for her newest film, Montreal, My Beautiful (2025).
“The decision was very simple: I just really wanted to shoot a film in Montreal because I hadn’t done so yet,” she says. “I think it feels very cinematic, and through my eyes, it would look very beautiful on screen.”
The 51-year-old Chinese-Canadian filmmaker did not just write and direct Montreal, My Beautiful, but is also the founder of the film’s production company, Red Dawn Productions.
The film follows Feng Xia – played by legendary actress Joan Chen – a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant running a small Montreal convenience store and trapped in a loveless marriage.
Her quiet life begins to shift as she begins taking French language classes and falls in love with a younger Quebecoise woman. Towards the end of the film, Feng Xia must decide between returning to China or staying in Canada, and remaining in her marriage or being with her new lover.
The film is, in many ways, a love letter to Montreal. It would have been an entirely different story were it set in any other Canadian city. “Even the title wouldn’t make sense – ‘Toronto, My Beautiful’ sounds a bit weird, right?” He says, laughing.
In early September, Montreal, My Beautiful was screened at the 37th Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. It had previously been shown at several Canadian events, including the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and the Windsor International Film Festival.

Approaching life honestly through film
After studying filmmaking at the Beijing Film Academy, He went on to study screenwriting at the Universite du Quebec in Canada. Channelling the stylistic influences of cinema luminaries such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Krzysztof Kieslowski and Abbas Kiarostami, she infuses Montreal, My Beautiful with an observational, poetic sensibility.
“Authentic” is the word she would use to best describe her film. “I didn’t want to beautify life or artificially overdramatise it,” she says. “I wanted to respect life, facing the story and all the characters as honestly and truthfully as possible.”
Queer cinema can suffer from fetishisation and stereotyping. He’s way of avoiding doing either was to simply not think about such external labels while writing or shooting. She did not set out a checklist of things to avoid regarding the portrayal of a queer Chinese woman. Instead, she simply returned to the core of storytelling: respecting the character herself.
“Whether she is a queer woman or not is secondary to her being a human being,” she says. “Love is love, and desire is desire, right?”

Working with Joan Chen
When writing Montreal, My Beautiful, He knew casting the lead role of Feng Xia would be a delicate challenge. She required a highly talented, professional actress who had personally lived through the Asian immigrant experience to authentically convey the character’s internal journey and cultural complexities.
To find her lead, she turned to a trusted friend who had offered to pass the script to Chen – a powerhouse of a woman who starred in The Last Emperor (1987) and directed Autumn in New York (2000).
The protagonist’s courage, later-in-life awakening and journey towards self-actualisation resonated deeply with Chen. But while shooting the film, the veteran actress had to undergo a lesson in surrendering control.
Time and money are naturally constrained on any independent film production. This pressure briefly brought tension during a key scene shot in a park in which the fading afternoon light was running out and the crew had to switch angles from Chen to cover co-star Charlotte Aubin, who plays Camille.

Chen, feeling she had not captured her performance perfectly yet, requested another take. But He had to put her foot down.
“I told her, ‘Joan, looking at the monitor, you were truly wonderful,’” He says. “‘Please trust me … I’m sorry, this isn’t Hollywood. We don’t have that kind of time.’
“If a director lacks clarity, time gets wasted and actors are left waiting. Making quick, precise decisions under intense time pressure was my biggest challenge and growth exercise on this shoot.”
The film also navigates unique territory by pairing a veteran actress with a non-professional actor: John Xu, a former engineer in his 50s who plays Feng Xia’s husband in his first film role. According to He, Xu’s own trajectory mirrored that of his character, in that he also immigrated to Canada and experienced underemployment.
Funding and future plans
The director says that making Montreal, My Beautiful would have been impossible without the funding of Canadian government-led cultural institutions such as the Canada Council for the Arts. She notes that while directors can be supported by public funding, films in Hong Kong, mainland China or even the US tend to rely on private investors.
“For someone like me who is a bit lazy and doesn’t enjoy socialising … asking people for money all day long would be so exhausting and difficult for my personality. So Canada’s policy suits me well,” she says.
Naturally, however, the process can be slow and bureaucratic, and competition for public funding is fierce.

For He’s next film, which she teases as a “mother and daughter revenge film”, she hopes to return to China and film it in her father’s hometown in Yunnan province – also where she shot the 2020 documentary My Father’s Journey, which explored her father’s Naxi roots.
Having been in the industry for decades now, He knows that a career in filmmaking is far from easy. But she offers simple advice to the next generation of filmmakers: live life earnestly.
“Observe life, be a mindful person and experience all the big and small moments around you.”


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Charlotte Aubin (left) and Joan Chen in a still from Montreal, My Beautiful, directed by Xiaodan He. The film follows a 53-year-old immigrant Chinese woman in Canada trapped in a loveless marriage who falls in love with a younger Quebecoise woman. Photo: Xiaodan He

Chinese-Canadian film director Xiaodan He is also the founder of Red Dawn Productions, the production company behind Montreal, My Beautiful. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Joan Chen (left) and Charlotte Aubin in a still from Montreal, My Beautiful. Photo: Xiaodan He

He attends the 37th Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, where Montreal, My Beautiful was screened, in September 2026. Photo: Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

Joan Chen in a still from Montreal, My Beautiful. Photo: Xiaodan He

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Lifestyle

Entertainment

Xiaodan He opens up on ‘Montreal, My Beautiful’, in which an immigrant Chinese wife falls in love with a younger Quebecoise woman


Xiaodan He opens up on ‘Montreal, My Beautiful’, in which an immigrant Chinese wife falls in love with a younger Quebecoise woman.


LGBTQ

Canada

Asian diaspora

Chinese overseas

‘Authentic’: Chinese-Canadian director’s queer love story starring Joan Chen

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Xiaodan He opens up on ‘Montreal, My Beautiful’, in which an immigrant Chinese wife falls in love with a younger Quebecoise woman

Xiaodan He opens up on ‘Montreal, My Beautiful’, in which an immigrant Chinese wife falls in love with a younger Quebecoise woman