Tag Archives: Autumn Gem

1. Autumn Gem Article in the World Journal

   We have a new article from David Wang about Autumn Gem, our screening tomorrow at the Chinese Culture Center, and our new iPad textbook, in the World Journal today: 自2007年開始籌畫研究，2009年自費開拍「秋瑾」紀錄片的華裔第二代張蕊（Rae Chang）與先生曹健鏗（Adam Tow），日前完成「秋瑾」（Autumn Gem）電子書，已在蘋果iBook上架。內容不但有文字，還有圖片及電影片段，是一本「多媒體電子書」。「秋瑾」目前在舊金山中華文化中心展出，張蕊和曹健鏗將於本周六，17日上午11時，在中心講解電影及示範電子書。 「秋瑾電子書是我們在開拍電影時，就考慮這麼做的，」曹健鏗表示，拍「秋瑾」前，他回母校史丹福大學的東亞圖書館收集資料；張蕊則回母校柏克萊加大東亞圖書館研究，兩人還訪問過美國的專家學者，以及秋瑾的後代，「無數文字和圖片內容，再加上電影片段，成為今天這本電子書。」 張蕊指出，出版電子書是希望藉著影音、照片、文字綜合起來的多媒體，造就一種新的教育形式，「比如說書中談到秋瑾的時代背景，就可以按書中的連結，去看背景資料，或是電影中的片段。」張蕊表示，未來的教材將會朝向多媒體的方向進行。 張蕊和曹健鏗的中文程度不太好，但因為看了一本介紹「鑑湖女俠」秋瑾（1875-1907）生平的書，兩人不但放下工作，還投資了6萬元拍電影，「想把這位少為人知的中國女權運動先驅者，介紹給西方世界」。 「秋瑾是位非常特別的人物，」張蕊指出，婦女在清朝是沒有地位的，裹小腳、不能讀太多書，「而秋瑾不但追求婦女解放，爭取男女平等，還立志推翻封建王朝，是中國婦女運動的先驅。」張蕊今年6月看到中國第一位上太空的女太空人劉洋，她第一個反應是：「劉洋是現代的秋瑾！」 張蕊和曹健鏗今年3月到現在，跑遍灣區所有圖書館，放映「秋瑾」並舉行座談，向大家介紹秋瑾，「很多老僑說看到他們的上一代；而年輕一代則反應對這段歷史有更多的瞭解。」張蕊表示，「秋瑾」放映總共超過120多場，灣區放映之前，曾在加拿大、夏威夷、澳洲、香港放映過，下個月還將到日本去放映。 「秋瑾」電影及電子書詳情：autumn-gem.com。

   Posted on November 16, 2012 in General, Interviews, Media, News, Screenings | 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. Southern California Fall 2011 Tour Recap

   It’s been two years since we had our first Autumn Gem screening in Southern California at the Pacific Asia Museum. Since then, we’ve had over one hundred screenings around the world, including stops in Australia, Canada, Texas, the Southwest, the Midwest, and the East Coast. This past week, we returned to Southern California for a [...]

   Posted on October 1, 2011 in Media, News, Screenings, Travel | No 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: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJzyEBvQNEM And here’s our version: Somehow I [...]

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

5. Hawai’i Pacific University Screening Recap and Photos

   We had two events at Hawai’i Pacific University, part of their weekly Viewpoints Film Series. At the first screening Professor William Zanella, who teaches Chinese history and Mandarin, introduced the film and provided historical background for this critical juncture in China’s modernization. We had a full house of students and community members at both screenings, [...]

   Posted on April 7, 2011 in Screenings, Travel | No comments

6. University of Hawai’i at Manoa Screening Recap and Photos

   We were very excited to show our film in conjunction with the “Rethinking the Chinese Revolution: 1911 in Global Perspective” Conference at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. The event was organized by the Center for Chinese Studies and Confucius Institute and held at the East-West Center on the UHM campus. Hawaii holds a special [...]

   Posted on April 7, 2011 in Screenings, Travel | No comments

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Southern Methodist University Screening Recap

    Our final screening of 2010 tour was at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. SMU was chartered and founded in 1911, the same year that Women’s History Month was started and the fall of the Qing Dynasty in China. Today, the school is home to 11,000 students, and will be the future site of the former [...]

    Posted on November 27, 2010 in Screenings, Travel | No comments

12. Women in Asia Conference Screening Recap

    Our final screening1 while in Australia was held at the Tenth International Women in Asia Conference at The Australian National University in the capital city of Canberra. The theme of this year’s conference was Crisis, Agency, and Change, certainly apt descriptors for the time that Qiu Jin lived at the turn of the last century. [...]

    Posted on October 6, 2010 in News, Screenings, Travel | No comments

13. Deakin University Screening Recap

    On Tuesdsay, we took the Metlink Tram to Burwood where one of the campuses of Deakin University is located. Deakin is a relatively new university, having only been established 25 years ago. It has campuses in several locations, including Geelong, the site of the 2010 Worlds Cycling Championship happening this week. Had we more time, [...]

    Posted on September 29, 2010 in News, Screenings, Travel | No comments

14. Life Matters Interview at ABC Radio

    There’s a popular public radio program in the United States called All Things Considered; in Australia, a similar program is called Life Matters on the Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio station. We were interviewed by Sydney-based program host, Richard Aedy, in the Melbourne station on Tuesday morning prior to our screening at Deakin University. This [...]

    Posted on September 29, 2010 in Interviews, Media, Screenings, Travel | No comments

15. 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

16. 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

17. Stony Brook University Screening Recap

    The Spring 2010 Autumn Gem Tour featured 13 screenings in 18 days. Our final stop before returning to the Bay Area was at State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island. Saying goodbye to my relatives in New Jersey, we took an early morning train to New York’s Penn Station. We didn’t [...]

    Posted on April 10, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

18. Brookdale Community College Screening Recap

    The previous day’s double feature, coupled with the lengthy and hectic travel to get to New Jersey, left us pretty tired. But, we were now on the home stretch and nothing would get in the way of our completing this tour! Fortunately, the next screening at Brookdale Community College was extremely well organized. Linda Wang [...]

    Posted on April 10, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

19. Montclair State University

    A short while after our first East Coast tour, we got an email from Montclair State University asking us if we would like to screen the film. It was this email and screening around which we scheduled our Spring 2010 tour. By locking in the date early on, we were able to plan all the [...]

    Posted on April 10, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | 2 comments

20. Kean University Screening Recap

    Tuesday was a double feature day, with two screenings at Kean University and Montclair State University in New Jersey. We started our journey right after our screening at Wellesley College in MA. Professor Joseph drove us to the train station where we took the MBTA back to Boston’s South Station. We had several hours to [...]

    Posted on April 10, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | 3 comments

21. Wellesley College Screening Recap

    Following the screening at the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association, we got a ride from Phoebe and Shaw over to Wellesley College. It was late when we arrived, but a key was waiting for us at the front desk. We were pretty tired after the screening in Newton, so Rae and I called it an [...]

    Posted on April 10, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | 2 comments

22. Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association Screening Recap

    After a great few days in Cambridge and Boston staying, we left Joe’s apartment to go to the suburbs of Boston for our screening at the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association. GBCCA member Betty Chao and her husband picked us up from Joe’s apartment to drive over to West Newton, MA. One of the benefits [...]

    Posted on April 10, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | 2 comments

23. Goucher College Screening Recap

    Our final stop in our Autumn Gem double feature yesterday was at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. I definitely liked the name of that city, especially since it’s pronounced the same way — think how now brown cow — my last name is! We were greeted at the university by Steve DeCaroli, Professor of Philosophy [...]

    Posted on March 31, 2010 in General, Screenings, Travel | No comments

24. World Journal Coverage of Autumn Gem

    We’ve had a number of articles written about Autumn Gem in recent weeks as part of our Spring 2010 marketing. Check out the articles below (in Chinese): April 3 – Recap of University of Maryland, College Park, screening on March 30 Coverage of our upcoming Boston-area screenings Las Vegas Chinese Cultural Center announcement of supporting [...]

    Posted on March 31, 2010 in General, Media, News, Screenings | 1 comment

25. UNLV Screening Recap

    Our Spring 2010 Tour of Autumn Gem got off to a great start last night at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The screening was held at the Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium / Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies (or MSM/HRC for short) and was sponsored by the Asian Film and Drama Club, Asian Studies [...]

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