1. KAGAN GOH
MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
FILMMAKER / AUTHOR/ SPOKEN WORD ARTIST/ ACTOR
3956 Dunbar Street
Vancouver, BC
V6S2E4
gohkagan@hotmail.com
604-446-3366
Career Objective
My purpose is to use my creativity, passion and enthusiasm to empower, inspire and awaken other
people’s core genius and help manifest the best of their talents and strengths in an original, fun and
exciting way.
Education
2014: Correspondence Course in Creative Writing, Humber College, Toronto, ON
2014: Directing Intensive, Seacoast Studios, West Vancouver, BC
2010, 2012: The Writer’s Studio, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC
1996: BA Film Studies Program, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
Awards
2014: Empowered Filmmaker Award, World Poetry Peace and Human Rights Film Festival
1996: First Prize: TVO Telefest ’96 – Long Documentary Category
1996: 2nd
Place: Cascadia Moving Images Festival – Independent Production
1996: 2nd
Place: Student Canadian International Annual Film Festival – Documentary
1996: Nominated: Yorkton (Saskatchewan) Short Film & Video Festival
– Golden Sheaf Award for Best Documentary under 30 minutes
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2. FILMMAKER’S BIOGRAPHY
Filmography
2015: BREAKING THE SILENCE writer/director/co-producer
In Development with Jordan-Bastow Productions
Breaking the Silence is a feature-length documentary about Akihide John Otsuji, a Japanese-
Canadian man who was unjustly imprisoned after the Japanese internment due to a racist law
called the Dispersal Campaign. The Canadian government labeled him a criminal. His sister
Mary Seki considers him a hero because he single-handedly and courageously defied an unjust
racist law. The film is about Mary Seki’s quest to clear her brother’s name and redress the
wrongs of the past.
2012: STOLEN MEMORIES (43 minutes) writer/producer/director
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. The
broadcaster OMNI has acquired first windows.
2000: INVOCATION (5 minutes) producer/director
A video poem for Spoken Word Artist T. Paul Saint Marie, an ex-drug addict visiting his old
haunts in the Downtown Eastside.
2000: FREIGHT TRAIN LAND (10 minutes) producer/director
Freight Train Land is 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.
1996: MIND FUCK (26 minutes) writer/producer/director
Call it acting or prostitution; the phone sex phenomenon reflects the darker side of the
telemarketing industry. From the absurd to the disturbing, Mind Fuck is 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.
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3. 1994: THE HAJ (43 minutes) writer/producer/director
The Haj is a beatnik love story about two strangers who meet through the internet and embark
upon an unorthodox date that turns into an unexpected spiritual adventure.
Screenings
Stolen Memories
2014: Blumin Warehouse Pop-Up Shop Vancouver, BC
2014: Brittania Shipyards Historic Site Vancouver, BC
2014: World Poetry Film Festival (UBC Learning Exchange) Vancouver, BC
2013: Nikkei Centre Vancouver, BC
2013: Salt Spring Film Festival Salt Spring Island, BC
2012: Asian Heritage Month (University of British Columbia) Vancouver, BC
2012: World Community Film Festival Courtenay, BC
2012: W2 Media Café (World Television Premiere) Vancouver, BC
Mind Fuck
1996: Festival du Nouveau Cinema (Montreal Festival of New Cinema) Montreal, QC
1996: Cascadia Moving Images Festival Campbell River, BC
1996: Asian Heritage Month Festival and Trinity Square Video
presents “Gingertongues” Toronto, ON
1996: FILE THIS! Sex Workers Unite! Blinding Light Cinema Vancouver, BC
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4. AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Residencies
Kagan Goh was writer in residence at the Historic Joy Kogawa House from November 2014 to February
2015.
Print
Books
2012: Who Let In the Sky?
(Published in Singapore by Celestial, an imprint of Select Books Private Limited)
A family memoir about a son’s relationship with his father, lately Canadian and erstwhile
Singaporean “literary pioneer” poet, novelist and playwright, Goh Poh Seng, who struggled with
Parkinson’s disease during the last fifteen years of his life until his untimely death in 2010.
Kagan Goh pays tribute to his father’s courage, his lust for life and his sheer will to survive
against all odds. Goh Poh Seng, even in the face of death, was indeed a man drunk on the rage of
being alive.
Anthologies
2003: “Life After Love,” Pages 100 – 104, Strike the Wok: an anthology of Contemporary Chinese
Canadian Fiction” (TSAR Publications, Canada)
2009: “The Boy who Faked Kung Fu,” Pages 85 – 91, Henry Chow and Other Stories from the Asian
Canadian Writer’s Workshop (Tradewinds Books, Canada and Great Britain)
2010& 2012: “Emerge 2010 Anthology” and “Emerge 2012 Anthology” (The Writer’s Studio,
Simon Fraser University’s Writing and Publishing Program)
2013: Poem entitled “Joy” featured in “Alive at the Center: an anthology of poems from the Pacific
Northwest” (Ooligan Press)
2013: “Defying the Hourglass,” “My Sweet Embraceable You,” “The Good Fight,” “Walking Amongst
Ghosts,” “A Strong Front,” and “Beeper.” Pages 152 – 165, SARE 50 (Southeast Asian Review of
English, Issue 50). (College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological
University; and MACLALS: Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies in
Malaysia)
Periodicals and Magazines
2014: Profiled author in Misfit Lit Magazine, Issue 2.2. Featuring “Life After Love,”
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5. “Rehabilitation,” “Joy,” and “Cracked.”
2013: Essay “Zen & the Art of Manic Depression.” Open Minds Quarterly: the poetry and
literature of mental health recovery
2013: Short story “Inuk Shuk.” (Issue 18.3) Ricepaper Magazine
2012: Short story “Blind Love.” (Issue 17.3 / 17.4) Ricepaper Magazine; special double issue:
Aboriginal & Asian Canadian Writers)
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST’S BIOGRAPHY
Performance
Spoken Word
Kagan is an established spoken word poet who has participated in poetry slams, readings, open mics and
festivals including: the 17th
Annual Vancouver International Storytelling Festival, Asian Heritage Month,
Word on the Street, Under the Volcano, Mad Pride Cabaret, Pandora’s Collective Twisted Poets, Poetic
Justice, Surrey Muse, The Writer’s Studio (TWS) Reading Series, Thundering Word Herd at Café
Montmartre, World Poetry Reading Series at the Vancouver Public Library.
Frequently guests on CBC and Co-op Radio. (ongoing)
2014: Powell Street Festival Society presents Spatial Poetics XIII We Mix, Western Front
Spatial Poetics is an evening of experimental performance pieces in which artists are
invited to create new performance-based work together and encourages to work beyond
their usual disciplines. Curators Yactac Gallery assembled an eclectic mix of emerging
Asian Canadian artists working in a variety of different forms.
2014: Misfit Lit Magazine launch presents spoken word artist Kagan Goh performing
Surviving Samsara. Also featuring Butoh dancer Maria Salome Nieto, cellist composer
Nicholas Epperson and singer-songwriter Fraser Mackenzie. Café Deux Soleils.
2014: Co-host of World Poetry Reading Series at the Britannia Library.
2008: Participated in interdisciplinary theatrical collaboration “Sex on Earth”, Anu 5.
Roundhouse Community Centre.
2005: Chosen as one of the feature poets for CBC Radio's "Poetry Face Off."
2003-2005: Hosted spoken word open mic, “Spoken Revelations,” at the Baghdad Café.
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6. Book Launches
2013: Rhizome Café presented the book launch of Kagan Goh’s “Who Let In the Sky?”
The book launch consisted of a live multi-media spoken word performance by author
Kagan Goh incorporating documentary film, video, slide projection, music and dance. The event
featured a screening of a documentary film by director Almerinda Travossos entitled “Goh Poh
Seng: A Poet in Newfoundland” as well as a special dance performance by Butoh
dancer/choreographer Maria Salome Nieto.
2013: The Arts House presented the book launch of “Who Let In the Sky?” for the Singapore Writer’s
Festival. As the author was unable to attend the event, a video was produced of the Vancouver
book launch which was screened to the Singaporean audience. This event featured Professor Koh
Tai Ann as moderator as well as a live Q & A Skype chat with the author.
Radio
2005: Researcher, Writer, Co-producer
“Aki’s Ghost,” Documentary on Outfront CBC Radio,Vancouver, BC
Researched and wrote a radio documentary about the life a Japanese Canadian man named
Akihide John Otsuji who was unjustly imprisoned for returning to Vancouver after the Second
World War.
ACTOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Acting
2014: “The Investigator,” a radio play by Reuben Ship, Vancouver, BC
Acted in an ensemble cast’s reading of the play in front of a live audience at the Wise Hall for the
celebration of the World Peace Conference.
2007: “The Loonie Awards,” Now Who’s Talking Now Recovery Theatre,Vancouver, BC
A theatrical production that used humor to tell true stories of addiction and mental health
recovery.
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7. 2005: “Poetech,” Vancouver Fringe Festival, Vancouver, BC
An innovative multimedia marriage between poetry and technology.
2004: “Nearly See Clearly,” Melodic Energy Commission, Vancouver, BC
Canada’s answer to Pink Floyd at the Planetarium.
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