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Taiwanese Women Filmmakers We had a successful, fun NATWA II program at the NATWA convention this April in Houston . We were able to meet and get to know other talented 1.5 - and 2nd -generation Taiwanese American and Canadian women as well as admire the dancing, singing, and acting skills of the 1 st generation during NATWA night. In particular, we celebrated three TA women filmmakers, two TA authors of children's and young adult literature, and a TA book publishing editor. Telling Our Stories TA filmmakers Anita Chang , Karen Lin , and Stephanie Yang each presented one of their films and spoke to the convention about why and how they entered their craft. Anita 's interest in media started in college at a more critical level, analyzing the representation of Asians and Asian Americans in film. After graduation, she worked in various jobs-in bars, as a youth counselor, as a civil rights investigator-and became involved in activism and painting. When she moved from New York to San Francisco , which was a "hotbed of independent filmmakers," she took night classes and has been making movies since 1994. Anita says she made her film, "62 Years and 6500 Miles Between," with a sense of the pending loss of her grandmother in Taiwan . The film helped to bridge the distance between the two of them. Anita's film "62 Years and 6500 Miles Between" is available for purchase-please email Anita at zhangwenshin@yahoo.com. Also check out Anita's website: www.anitachangworks.com. Karen 's grandfather was a director and writer in Taiwan , a pioneer in making movies in Taiwanese. Her dad grew up on the movie sets and took Karen to the movies when she was growing up. After she earned her master's degree in public policy, she decided to follow her dream and moved to Hollywood . Karen now has a successful 10-year career in Hollywood working for actors and directors and producing music videos. This work has allowed her to create her own short films and she is now working on a feature film written by her sister. Karen's short film "Perfection" is based on a lot of expectations that many parents have of their children and the anxiety she felt when she was in grad school. Karen's DVD is for sale for $15 ($10 plus $5 for shipping and handling). $5 of each sale will be donated to NATWA II. Email Karen to order: info@zuzufilms.com . The DVD will be ready for shipment in June. Also check out Karen's website: www.zuzufilms.com . Stephanie is a mixed race, queer Taiwanese/European American who became interested in making films three years ago. She had been writing stories and critiquing films and found that filmmaking was another way to tell stories and to make them accessible to more people. She made "A Tiger's Tale" after her grandfather in Taiwan died a year and a half ago. She had spent a lot of time in Taipei with him, and she felt that he passed away too soon. Stephanie grew up in an American world, very disconnected from Taiwan , and she could not speak the language. Her grandfather, who spoke English, had helped her to understand that part of her is Taiwanese. She wrote the fable in the short film and loosely based it on the relationship between Taiwan and China . The film was a way to honor her strongly pro-independence grandfather. Check out Stephanie's website: http://shiftingnarratives.com/ |
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Synopsis of "62 Years and 6500 Miles Between": Asking her grandmother what advice she has for young people, filmmaker Anita Chang receives a simple reply: "Politics!" Despite a third stroke and a century of struggle, "Democratic Grandma" remains true to the ideals that earned her acclaim and a memorable nickname in Taiwan . However, she also knows that progress exacts a price-a realization rendered vividly and with poignant candor in Chang's portrait of her headstrong amah. Tracing the parallel threads of her female relatives' stories, Chang uncovers revelations of political persecution while focusing on the struggle to maintain-and sometimes resist-the bonds of filial traditions. A mesmerizing and provocative meditation on history-making and the post-colonial condition, this dynamic documentary intimately depicts what it means to be a part of a family, a nation, and a world in constant upheaval. (Description from the S.F. Asian American Film Festival 2005) "62 Years and 6500 Miles Between" is available for purchase -p lease email Anita at zhangwenshin@yahoo.com . Also check out Anita's website: www.anitachangworks.com. Biography: Anita is an independent filmmaker whose award-winning works have screened nationally and internationally and broadcasted on public television and cable outlets . Works include the recent co-production with Public Television Service's Viewpoints 62 Years and 6500 Miles Between (2005); and An elegy to our small selves (2002), She Wants to Talk to You (2001), Imagining Place (1999), Unboxed (1999), Mommy, What's Wrong? (1997), Video Letter to the President (1996), One Hundred Eggs a Minut e (1996) and Spofford Alley (1994). Her films are politically motivated, but always, aesthetically based. Her works are distributed by Women Make Movies, Third World Newsreel, The Center for Asian American Media/NAATA, Clearinghouse for South Asian Documentaries and Public Television Service Foundation, and are in the permanent collections of schools and universities in U.S. and abroad. She has completed artist residencies in Nepal , Headlands Center for the Arts, and Taipei Artist Village . She teaches in the fields of film/video production, documentary and world cinema studies at San Francisco State University and San Francisco Art Institute, and was a Fulbright scholar at the National Taiwan University of Arts in 2004-05. She is currently in production on Joyful Life , a collaborative documentary with the residents of Taiwan 's Le Sheng ("Joyful Life"), one of the last remaining leprosariums in the world on the verge of ruination. |
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Synopsis of "Perfection": From infancy, an Asian American woman learns the game of perfection. But if your goal is perfection, will the game ever end? Milton Bradley's game Perfection is "a race against time" where players must match shapes to a board in 60 seconds. The game mirrors an Asian American woman's struggle to achieve success and gain her parent's approval. Taught the game as an infant, she races into her teens winning competitions and getting straight A's, only left to wonder whether or not her parents will love her even if she fails. Ultimately she must decide to end the game. Karen's DVD is for sale for $15 ($10 plus $5 for shipping and handling). $5 of each sale will be donated to NATWA II. Email Karen to order: info@zuzufilms.com . The DVD will be ready for shipment in June. Biography: After receiving a Sociology/Public Policy degree from Pomona College and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from UC Berkeley, Karen decided to head to Hollywood and follow her passion for film. She started as an agent's assistant, and moved on to feature film production, working in various positions including: assistant to actor Nicolas Cage ( Face/Off, City of Angels) , and assistant to director Roger Donaldson ( Thirteen Days) . Three years ago she made the leap into production managing music videos and producing short films. In March 2001, she founded ZuZu Films, which has produced several projects for KSCI (Channel 18) and other national Taiwanese American organizations. Perfection is her first 35mm short film which has traveled to over 24 film festivals around the world. Karen's personal goal is to bring more Asian American faces to the silver screen. |
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Stephanie is a mixed race, queer Taiwanese/European American woman who grew up in Southern California . She makes films as a way to bring the stories she writes to life. Through her art, she explores the complexities of race and relationships, and hopes to raise questions about the disparities and contradictions of urban life. She is the founder of Shifting Narratives, an independent film company that supports an emerging community of filmmakers using the short narrative form to promote social justice and human rights. She received her BA from UCLA and her MA from Tulane University . Stephanie wrote and published a program guide for the Sisterhood Fund, The World Belongs to Us: Young Women, Leadership and Philanthropy , and developed the first-ever Girls as Grantmakers Tool Kit. Stephanie also co-authored Women in Transit: Analyzing Gender for Transportation Justice, which explores the community wide benefits and challenges of using a gender base analysis in regard to transportation planning. Stephanie has also worked as a counselor at Planned Parenthood, conducted research and outreach strategies on international human rights, environmental justice, and welfare reform issues, and served on the board of a peer-based youth anti-oppression training organization. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Resource Generation and works with the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project. "Film has the power to touch hearts, release fears and present hope in a way that can directly lead to shifts in community attitudes, behaviors and policies. I am on the board because I believe the work of WEM is about harnessing that power with strength and integrity -- and as a result positive social change is happening in the many different communities we belong to." Check out Stephanie's website: http://shiftingnarratives.com/ . Her film "A Tiger's Tale" is available for purchase-please email Stephanie at stephanie@shiftingnarratives.com . |
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