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Every once in a while I meet someone who so impresses me, I want to tell the world.

That happened to me this week upon meeting Caylan Ford.

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It was Louis B. Hobson, Postmedia’s local film and theatre critic, who suggested I meet Ford to consider writing a profile on her after he was wowed by a documentary she co-wrote and co-produced with acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Leon Lee.

The film, Letter from Masanjia, relays the harrowing story of Sun Yi, a soft-spoken but incredibly brave Chinese dissident who was imprisoned and tortured in a notorious re-education labour camp for almost three years for following the spiritual practice of Falun Gong, which is outlawed in China.

Lee had to remotely direct the movie through encrypted messages with Yi and much of the filming had to be done surreptitiously, often with just an iPhone or a dashcam.

Ford, a fourth-generation Calgarian, has done so much in her 32 years it will be impossible to cover here.