movies, art, theatre, music, dance, fiction, and non-fiction. When discussing her inspirations she says, "I read interviews with people I've never heard of. And I listen to both friends and strangers speak. I live entirely, throw myself into situations, get my heart broken, soar with infatuations. And somehow all that gets funneled through my guiding intention, which is to reflect and reveal how we can be happier. How to live more authentically, how to make the most out of this one life." Short films Shum's first short film, Picture Perfect, is a 1989 release about a man obsessed with pornography and the effects of media on his personal life. The film is based on Shum's ex-boyfriend being a pornography addict and her experiences finding out about it. She ended up casting him in the lead role. Picture Perfect was nominated for "Best Short Drama" at the 1989 Yorkton Film Festival. In 1993, Shum released a 20-minute documentary about her family titled, Me, Mom and Mona. The film is reminiscent of a television talk show surrounding the lives of three women. Through the duration of the film, the women discuss the complexities of familial history and the sometimes strained relationship with the patriarch of the family. The film was well-received and won "Best Short Film" at the Toronto International Film Festival. Shum has written and directed several other short films, including: Shortchanged, Love In, Hunger, and Thirsty. Her most recent short film titled, Hip Hop Mom, was released online in 2011 and has garnered thousands of hits. Feature films Shum has directed four feature-length films. Her first feature-length film, Double Happiness, was released in 1994, and stars Sandra Oh. Double Happiness, is a semi-autobiographical film based on Shum's early experiences of leaving home as a teenager. The film is about an aspiring actress trying to assert her independence from the expectations of her Chinese Canadian family. Double Happiness won numerous awards including: the "Wolfgang Staudte Award" at the Berlin International Film Festival, the "Audience Award" at the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema, and "Best Canadian Feature Film" at the Toronto International Film Festival. Shum's second feature film, Drive, She Said, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1997 and was in official competition at the Turin Delle Donne Film Festival. Drive, She Said, is about a woman that is willingly taken hostage by a bank robber and accompanies him