Autumn Gem

Our last stop was at the University of Pennsylvania. Following the screening at the Evergreen Senior Club in Delaware, Uncle Don drove us to Philadelphia. World Series fever was in the air, as we saw many banners for the Phillies, as well as people sporting Phillies jackets, hats and shirts. We had an intimate screening, [...]

About two weeks ago, Rae’s dad told us to call one of his friends from college who now lives in Delaware. Professor Charles Ih (from the University of Delaware) was very interested in showing Autumn Gem to the Evergreen Senior Club at the Chinese American Community Center in Hockessin, Delaware. The only time that we [...]

During our Pasadena screening, we received a very enthusiastic response from one of the audience members. Ann Lau told us that Qiu Jin was one of her role models and she was very excited to have seen the movie. She was instrumental in setting up our screening in New York. Putting us in touch with [...]

We’re currently at the Peace and Love Cafe across the street from the Tribeca Film Center, where we’ll be screening Autumn Gem at 6:30 pm tonight. Our first Midwest and East Coast Tour is coming to a close, with only two more showings tomorrow before we head back to the Bay Area on Thursday. Overall, [...]

Our third week on tour concluded with a screening at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center in Boston, Massachusetts. The BCNC is celebrating their 40th anniversary of serving the Chinatown community this year, and the organization is having a celebration gala in a couple of weeks on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the center’s two buildings [...]

On Friday, we had a great time at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where we participated in several seminars before our screening of Autumn Gem at 4:00 pm. At most of the screenings on this trip, we don’t have too much time to wander around the school and talk with the students. We have typically [...]

During our East Coast scholar interview trip last June, we also interviewed Professor Lingzhen Wang at Brown University. Following our stop at Connecticut College, Rae and I drove up to Providence, Rhode Island on Wednesday afternoon. This is now the fifth time I’ve been in Providence, having come here as a high school student to [...]

Nearly a year and a half ago, Rae, JP, and I went to the East Coast to interview two scholars, Amy Dooling from Connecticut College and Lingzhen Wang from Brown University. Three weeks into our Midwest and East Coast tour, we have returned to both of these schools for screenings of Autumn Gem. Our first [...]

We’re happy to announce that Autumn Gem DVDs are now available for purchase! For personal, non-commercial use, the price is $20. For educational institutions and organizations that wish to show Autumn Gem to classes and clubs, the price is $120. Shipping and handling is an additional $5.

Our final stop in our seven screenings in six days week was at the New Jersey Chinese Community Center. Thanks to Tien-Fang Hou for bringing a great crowd to the screening. Coincidentally, Tien-Fang’s grandson trains at the same wushu school as Melissa, the girl who played the young Qiu Jin in our film. Small world! [...]

When I was in high school, one of my top college choices was Princeton University. Unfortunately at the time, I wasn’t accepted, and I eventually went to Stanford. Things worked out in the end, and I no longer spend any time wondering what might have been. Our screening was organized by the Davis International Center [...]

Our double feature on Thursday, October 15, ended with a screening at the University of Maryland, College Park. The weather was really wet, and we were fearing the worst in regards to the turnout. But, by golly, thirty-five people said, “Hell no!” to the rain and wind and made it to the showing! Thanks go [...]

On the morning of October 15, 2009, we drove north of Baltimore to Oldfields School, Maryland’s oldest girls’ boarding school. The theme for Oldfields this year is, “Women Who Dare,” so it was an ideal fit for our documentary. Thanks to Maria and the rest of the Oldfields staff for having us! And, big kudos [...]

Following our screening at George Mason University, we drove into our Nation’s Capitol, where we had scheduled a dinner with Rae’s college friend Alisa and my high school friend and newly-elected Congressman, Jared Polis. Traffic in the area wasn’t as bad as I had feared, though the wet weather made for some extra careful driving. [...]

Our third stop in three days (three of seven for the week) took us to George Mason University. We had the pleasure of being toured around the campus by Dr. Karl Zhang, Professor of Chinese Modern and Classical Languages at GMU. It turns out that Professor Zhang did his Ph.D. work at Stanford University the [...]

We’ve discovered the secret to getting a good turnout at our university screenings: food and extra credit! About 90 students attended the screening at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Big kudos to Constantine Vaporis, Anna Shields, Rebecca Boehling and all the UMBC professors who got their students to come to the showing. They also did [...]

One of the first questions that I had when we arrived in Champaign, Illinois, was, “Is it Urbana-Champaign or Champaign-Urbana?” The University is called University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), but I saw buses with signs saying Champaign-Urbana. The reason for the hyphenated name is because the school is located between the twin cities of Champaign [...]

Following our screening at Columbia College, we spent a few days in Chicago with my cousin, Steve. Rae and I got caught up on work while preparing for the next slate of screenings; seven showings of Autumn Gem in the next six days! Tonight’s screening will be at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Tomorrow morning, [...]

This morning, we departed Madison, Wisconsin, in the seat of a Coach USA bus. Our destination was Chicago, Illinois, and Columbia College Chicago. Switching buses at Janesville, Rae and I slept most of the way to Chicago. When we arrived at Union Station, it was raining outside; good thing that we came prepared with our [...]

Last night, we had a good turnout of about fifty students and faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Winther Hall 2001 had two screens, so if you crossed your eyes, you would have thought you were watching Autumn Gem in 3-D! The first question asked from the crowd was how we financed the film; [...]

We had an intimate screening at the University of Wisconsin-Madison today; though there were not many people who showed up, those that did asked some great questions. One was whether Qiu Jin was viewed as more of a nationalist or feminist? In China and Taiwan, people are taught in school about Qiu Jin’s revolutionary work [...]

With the start of our 25-day tour of Autumn Gem underway, we’d like to talk a little bit about our packing strategy. First, some background information on how we used to approach packing. Back in 1995, I was a junior at Stanford spending a quarter abroad in Paris, France. I brought way too much stuff [...]

We arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, shortly after 7:00 pm CST. A number of people on our flight were sporting Green Bay Packers logos; no doubt they were eagerly anticipating the matchup on Monday Night Football between the Packers and the Brett Favre-led Minnesota Vikings. The Packers put up a good fight, but they fell to [...]

We’re off on our whirlwind tour of the Midwest and East Coast! We’ll be reporting from all of the cities, schools, and locations we’re screening Autumn Gem in. Be back later today from Madison, Wisconsin!