Moon Kwan

Moon Kwan was an important figure in the development of the Chinese film industry. He began his career in Hollywood during the early days of silent film. A native of China, Kwan relocated to Los Angeles in 1915 to pursue his interest in filmmaking. He found work as a writer and actor but made his principal contribution as an advisor on Chinese culture to director D.W. Griffith during the filming of the silent classic Broken Blossoms (1919). Kwan returned to China in 1921, and established a film company near Shanghai. In 1933 he co-founded the Grandview Film Company in San Francisco to make Chinese-language films for the American market. Kwan directed more than fifty films while continuing to promote and distribute Chinese films in the United States.