Category Archives: General

  1. Upcoming Bay Area Screenings

    Welcome 2012! We’re gearing up for the Year of the Dragon! After over 100 screenings across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong, we’ll be focusing on showings right here in the Bay Area, starting with a series at the San Mateo County Libraries. We’ll also be hitting the East Bay (Berkeley, Fremont, Livermore, Danville, [...]

    Posted on January 10, 2012 in General | No comments

  2. Santa Clara and Hayward Public Libraries Screening Recap

    We’re just hours away from boarding a plane to Hong Kong for our final screenings for 2011. Last week, we had two screenings in public libraries in the San Francisco Bay Area. We showed the film at the Santa Clara City Library and the Hayward Public Library. Though I’m writing this as I’m furiously packing, [...]

    Posted on October 12, 2011 in General, News, Screenings | No comments

  3. 2011 Fall Update

    SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, BAY AREA, HONG KONG SCREENINGS LI JING OPENS MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL 1911 REVOLUTION CENTENARY AUTUMN GEM IN THE BLACK FALL TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED AUTUMN GEM will have its first Asia showing in Hong Kong next month! We’ll also have events in the Bay Area and Southern California. Check below to see if we’re [...]

    Posted on September 21, 2011 in General | 2 comments

  4. Hong Kong Feature Film on Qiu Jin to be Released

    A new feature film on Qiu Jin called “The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake” is opening this week in Hong Kong. It’s directed by Herman Yau and stars Huang Yi as Qiu Jin and veteran actor Anthony Wong as a Qing Dynasty official. Check out the trailer here: And here’s our version: Somehow I think [...]

    Posted on August 21, 2011 in General, News, Screenings, Travel | 7 comments

  5. World Journal Article on San Diego Chinese Historical Museum Screening

    Here is the World Journal newspaper’s coverage of our screening at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum last Saturday. Reporter Daming Lee wrote about our first major public event at La Jolla Country Day School in May 2009. 秋瑾紀錄片放映滿百場 記者李大明聖地牙哥報導 正值辛亥革命成功、中華民國誕生100周年之際，旅美華裔曹健鏗、張蕊夫婦拍攝的傳記紀錄片「秋瑾」也在美加各地放映整整100場。這一富有意義的巧合，顯示海外華人新一代重拾歷史使命的心願，更標誌文化傳承有更堅實基礎。 上世紀70年代出生的曹健鏗與張蕊，分別是香港、台灣移民的後代。曹健鏗畢業於史丹福大學，張蕊則是柏克萊加大高材生，兩人在拍攝傳記紀錄片「秋瑾」之前，對百年中國近代史所知有限，對電影製作更是一竅不通。一個偶然機會，他們看到了一本介紹「鑑湖女俠」秋瑾（1875-1907）生平的書，深為這位女傑立志推翻封建王朝、追求婦女解放、最終為理想獻身的事蹟所感動，決心拍攝一部影片，讓海外華人下一代瞭解這些可歌可泣的往事。 兩位年輕人不顧資金匱乏、經驗不足，說幹就幹。他們走遍秋瑾故里浙江紹興，請教研究秋瑾的中外學者，終於在2009年完成這部長達一小時的傳記紀錄片，並在聖地牙哥的私立中學「La Jolla Country Day School」首映，受到許多好評。 此後兩年，曹健鏗與張蕊帶著自己的這部處女作，馬不停蹄地奔走於美國東西兩岸放映，漸漸引起了媒體與公眾的注意。上周末，兩人回到當初起步的聖地牙哥，在當地「中華歷史博物館」為華洋朋友作了第100場放映，作為對辛亥革命百周年的獻禮，並告慰秋瑾烈士。 近百名華洋朋友應邀在聖地牙哥中華歷史博物館觀賞了這部電影，曹健鏗、張蕊還即席回答了觀眾的提問。歷史博物館館長莊紹文代表社區，向兩人頒贈了感謝狀。

    Posted on June 4, 2011 in General | No comments

  6. Female Circumcision and Footbinding

    I was alerted to an article in the New York Times recently about female genital mutilation (also known as female circumcision) in Africa. Young girls are taken to a “cutter” who carves out their clitoris and labia with a razor, then stitches the flesh back together, leaving a small opening for urination and menstruation. The [...]

    Posted on May 12, 2011 in General | No comments

  7. Cinematic Celebrations of Centenary

    In addition to Jackie Chan’s film 1911, Taiwan is producing an animated feature on Sun Yat-sen and his comrades to commemorate the 1911 Revolution centenary. I grabbed a couple screenshots from the trailer featuring Qiu Jin: She looks a bit like Li Jing (maybe it’s the similar poses). Here’s a portrait of Qiu Jin as [...]

    Posted on May 10, 2011 in General | No comments

  8. A Century of Change: China 1911-2011

    The Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University is celebrating the 100 years anniversary of the 1911 Revolution with a new exhibit featuring archival materials and audiovisual media from its collection, as well as a few props from AUTUMN GEM in its section on “Reformers and Revolutionaries.” Adam and I attended the reception and were impressed [...]

    Posted on May 6, 2011 in General | 1 comment

  9. A Step Backwards for Women in China

    “What’s the current status of women in China today?” This question comes up often in our Q-and-A sessions. Interestingly, we were recently alerted to an incident which sheds some light on this topic. Li Yinhe slams NPC representative Zhang Xiaomei’s proposal to send women back into the kitchen At the recently concluded “Two Sessions”, a [...]

    Posted on March 22, 2011 in General | 1 comment

  10. Monterey Park Public Library Screening Recap

    Rounding out our Southern California tour was an event at the Monterey Park Public Library. Monterey Park was where we filmed the scene of Qiu Jin training with her cousin (who is played by Rae’s real cousin Hans), so it was great returning to one of our shooting locations. Our actress Li Jing attended the [...]

    Posted on March 16, 2011 in General, News, Screenings | No comments

  11. Miramar College Screening Recap

    Our first major public screening was at Adam’s high school in San Diego back in May 2009. On Friday we returned to his home turf for another event, this time at Miramar College. We had a fantastic turnout of students, faculty, community members, and even some of Adam’s elementary school classmates from Spreckels! Thanks to [...]

    Posted on March 16, 2011 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

  12. Torrance Public Library Screening Recap

    Second stop on our Southern California tour was the Torrance Public Library. Rae was born in Torrance, and the screening was held the day before her birthday, March 9, which happens to be Adam’s birthday! Yes, we’re both Pisces, and this year is also Adam’s Year of the Rabbit, so we’re looking forward to being [...]

    Posted on March 16, 2011 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

  13. UC Riverside Screening Recap

    On Monday we headed down to Southern California for another week of screenings. Around this time a year ago we were at UC Irvine, where Professor Hu Ying, one of the scholars in the film, had invited us to show it. This time, we travelled inland to UC Riverside, where we were hosted by the [...]

    Posted on March 14, 2011 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

  14. 2011 Winter Update

    The plum blossom’s icy beauty defies the aggression of snow and frost. Refusing to decorate jade palaces, she adorns an ancient peak. Her sublimity lies in her independence. – Qiu Jin (translation by Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy) Happy Year of the Rabbit! We have some great developments this year as we continue to [...]

    Posted on February 25, 2011 in General | No comments

  15. AAUW Morgan Hill Screening Recap

    Back in March 2010, we had a screening at the Willow Glen Library sponsored by the San Jose branch of the American Association of University Women. After a successful event, the organizers promoted the film to other AAUW chapters, and soon afterwards we were contacted by Peggy Thompson from the Morgan Hill branch, who along [...]

    Posted on January 24, 2011 in General, Screenings | No comments

  16. Autumn Gem Coming To University of Texas, San Antonio

    Autumn Gem is featured in UTSA Today, the online newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio. We’ll be screening there on Sunday, November 13, 2010 from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm. Here’s the article, copied below. UTSA East Asia Institute to screen documentary on China’s first feminist By Kris Rodriguez Public Affairs Specialist [...]

    Posted on November 11, 2010 in General, Media, News, Screenings | No comments

  17. USC Screening Recap

    Our last screening on this Fall SoCal 2010 tour was held at the University of Southern California. I think the last time I was on campus was back in high school, when my school did a tour of West Coast colleges and universities. Our sponsor was the USC US-China Institute, with Clayton Dube, Linda Truong, [...]

    Posted on November 1, 2010 in General, Screenings | No comments

  18. Association for Asian Studies Western Conference Screening Recap

    The 48th annual Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies was held between October 22-23 at California State University, Northridge. The theme of this year’s conference was “Translating Asia: Past, Present, & Future.” Northridge experienced a large 6.7 magnitude earthquake back in January 17, 1994. I may be mixing up my earthquakes, but I [...]

    Posted on October 24, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

  19. Chinese Association of Victoria Screening

    On Sunday night, we had a screening at the Chinese Association of Victoria. In the late afternoon, Rae and I took the train from Flinders Station to Wantirna, a suburb of Melbourne. Lillian and Rex Lai picked us up from Blackburn Station and drove us to the CAV. The association was founded back in 1982 [...]

    Posted on September 26, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

  20. Australia-China Friendship Society Screening

    On Friday morning, we got on an airplane from Sydney to Melbourne. The flight was a little over an hour long, and it reminded me of the trip from San Diego to the Bay Area. Upon arriving, we noticed a number of people wearing black and white striped outfits. At the time of this post’s [...]

    Posted on September 24, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

  21. Bondi Beach

    Following our short visit to the Sydney Opera House, my uncle took us to lunch over at Bondi Beach. Located 7km from the city center, Bondi Beach is a very popular beach that reminded me of beaches in La Jolla where I grew up. I don’t think I ever appreciated how amazing La Jolla was [...]

    Posted on September 24, 2010 in General, Travel | No comments

  22. Sydney Opera House

    Before our screening at the University of Sydney, we spent a few hours in the morning and afternoon doing some sightseeing. At the Sydney Opera House, we had a good view of people climbing up the Harbor Bridge. That might be a fun thing to do when we are back in Sydney next weekend. The [...]

    Posted on September 24, 2010 in General, Travel | 2 comments

  23. University of New South Wales Screening

    We had a screening at the University of New South Wales yesterday afternoon. Thanks to Professor Haiqing Yu who set up our first screening of Autumn Gem on international soil! We had mostly academics and professors at the screening, and this led to a very good discussion about how best to promote and distribute our [...]

    Posted on September 22, 2010 in General, Screenings, Technical, Travel | No comments

  24. Australia Gear Packing List

    We’re less than a week away from our first international tour of Autumn Gem! On September 20, we’ll be taking to the skies to head Down Under for eight screenings of Autumn Gem in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, Australia. With a new trip comes new gear for travel!

    Posted on September 20, 2010 in General, Technical, Travel | 6 comments

  25. Autumn Gem Preview for the iPad, New and Noteworthy on the App Store

    Our Autumn Gem Preview app for the iPad made Apple’s New and Noteworthy list on Apple’s App Store. Check it out! Thanks to Ivan at XBureau, the developers of the app, for catching this!

    Posted on June 28, 2010 in General, News | No comments