Mila Aung-Thwin

Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.

He had a multi-disciplinary education in arts, journalism, and photography. In 1998, he met his fellow director/producer Daniel Cross and co-founded with him EyeSteelFilm specializing in making documentaries. He is the vice-president of the company.

He is a graduate of Vanier College and McGill University in 1998. He was an editor of the McGill Daily during his studies.

Career Aung-Thwin, an award-winning director made the films Chairman George on the stations CTV, BBC's Storyville and TV 2 (Denmark). as a co-director to Daniel Cross. Another co-direction with Cross was Too Colourful for the League, Gemini-nominated TV documentary examining the struggle of blacks in ice hockey from the 1930s to the present day telling the story of black players' courage and determination to play in a white-dominated sport.

To his credit as sole director are the documentary Bone that follows Montreal's Snell Thouin Project with the extraordinary talents of Willy Tsao's Beijing Modern Dance Company, Music for a Blue Train, a documentary about the beauty and hardship of playing music for commuter traffic focussing on Montreal's subway system, The Métro, that has 59 designated spots for musicians to perform for the public and finally Inuuvunga: I Am Inuk, I Am Alive co-directed with fellow EyeSteelFilm directors Daniel Cross, Brett Gaylor and the students of Inukjuak - Innalik School.

He served as cinematographer / producer on S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic, a theatrically released film about a squeegee punk named Roach. He also produced RoachTrip as a follow-up to S.P.I.T.. As director, he won the Golden Sheaf Award at the Yorkton Film Festival in 2006 and as producer, he won a Genie Award for Up the Yangtze in 2009. In 2008 he was executive producer for Antoine. In 2009 he produced RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (producer) and Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam.

In 2022 he was named the winner of the Don Haig Award at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Filmography

Director 2001: Too Colourful for the League 2003: Music for a Blue Train 2005: Chairman George 2005: Bone 2017: Let There Be Light (co-director with Van Royko) 2026: The Ultra Runner

Producer 2001: S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic (producer) 2005: Chairman George (co-producer) 2005: Bone (producer) 2007: The Colony (executive producer) 2007: Up the Yangtze (producer) 2008: Antoine (executive producer) 2009: RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (producer) 2009: Ali Shan (executive producer) 2009: Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam (producer) 2009: Last Train Home (producer) aka Gui tu lie che / 2010: The Frog Princes (executive producer) 2010: "Gambling Boys" (for The Passionate Eye on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) - a TV series documentary) (executive producer) 2010: Mokhtar (producer) (short) 2011: Inside Lara Roxx (executive producer, producer) 2011: Fortunate Son (producer) 2012: China Heavyweight (executive producer) 2016: I Am the Blues 2017: Let There Be Light (co-producer) 2022: Midwives

Cinematographer 2001: S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic 2005: Chairman George 2005: Bone

Editor 2005: Chairman George 2005: Bone 2017: Let There Be Light (co-editor) 2018: Anote's Ark 2022: Midwives

Awards In 2006, he won the Golden Sheaf Award at Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival for Chairman George alongside Daniel Cross In 2009, he won Genie Award for "Best Documentary" for Up the Yangtze jointly with Yung Chang, John Christou and Germaine Wong