Australia Gear Packing List

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We’re just a few hours away from flying off for our first international tour of Autumn Gem! This evening 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! We’ve learned a lot from our two previous tours to the Midwest, East Coast and Southwest. Our current goal is to be able to bring one carry-on bag that can fit under the airplane seat! With that in mind, I’ve adjusted our gear list with the following new additions. Here’s a photo of mostly what I’m taking with me on the trip.

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Deakin University Screening Announcement

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Deakin University’s Centre for Teaching Asian Languages and Cultures announced our screening of Autumn Gem, to be held on Tuesday, September 28. The free showing will take place in Lecture Theatre 12, Building X at Deakin’s Melbourne Campus at Burwood.

To register to attend please email shannon.cheal (at) deakin.edu.au or phone 03 9244 6417

Autumn Gem Screening Map

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I spent the evening adding markers to a Google Map showing all the places where Autumn Gem has and will be screened. Our Summer and Fall 2010 tour schedule will be taking us to Australia, Texas, Vancouver, and Southern California! It’s amazing that in the past year and a half, we’ve shown Autumn Gem in over fifty places across the country!

We will continually update this map as the film makes its way to more and more places around the globe!

Autumn Gem Preview for the iPad Available Now!

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Download Autumn Gem Preview from the App Store

We’re pleased to announce the immediately availability of the Autumn Gem Preview application for the iPad!

Using selected video clips, archival materials, and interactive features, Autumn Gem Preview introduces you to this fascinating figure through an extensive trailer of the film.

On the home screen are three Chinese characters: Woman, Sword and Country. Tapping on each character will take you to a different section of Qiu Jin’s life.

Learn about the oppressive conditions imposed upon women during Qiu Jin’s time and her struggle to break free of them. Follow her path from childhood as a privileged daughter of an official’s family, to a young woman forced into the traditional roles of marriage and motherhood, to her rejection of those roles and her transformation into a radical women’s rights advocate.

See how she became involved in a rebellious plot to overthrow the last dynasty in China. Use your fingers to control Qiu Jin as she trains in martial arts to prepare herself for battle.

Tap to buy the Autumn Gem DVD and learn more about Qiu Jin on the official Autumn Gem web site.

Autumn Gem Preview provides a unique experience that introduces you to the compelling story of modern China’s first feminist.

You can download it from the iTunes App Store today.

Note: Due to the size of the application, we recommend you download it using a WiFi connection or via iTunes.

Saratoga Public Library Screening Recap and Photos

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Autumn Gem at the Saratoga Public Library

On Sunday, the Chi Am Circle club sponsored a screening of Autumn Gem at the Saratoga Public Library. Ninety people were in attendance for the screening, including Qiu Jin’s Great Grandnephew, Charles Fan, whom we first met at the Willow Glen screening back in March. Now that we’re back from our Spring 2010 Tour, we have time to start planning our next steps with the film: more screenings, interviews, a study guide for the Institutional version of the DVD and the iPad application.

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Autumn Gem for the iPad Wins The Future of Publishing Award at iPadDevCamp!

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Autumn Gem for the iPad wins the Future of Publishing Award at the inaugural iPadDevCamp!

Autumn Gem for the iPad introduces the incredible story of Modern China’s first feminist, Qiu Jin. Drawing on the innovative and interactive features of the iPad, users can learn about Qiu Jin’s efforts in the Women’s Movement in China and her role in overthrowing the Qing government.

Many thanks to Ivan Torres and Dominic Tham from XBureau in Orange County for their work in developing the application. In true BarCamp tradition, we met randomly on Friday night, hit it off, and developed a complete working and award-winning prototype in two days! With the award — which was sponsored by Promote-A-Book — comes a free iPad, which we’ll be giving to them. We couldn’t have done it without them! Richly deserved, guys!

Here’s a screenshot of the upcoming application, which we will be getting onto iTunes App Store soon!

Autumn Gem for the iPad

Stony Brook University Screening Recap

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Stony Brook University screening of Autumn Gem

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 head immediately to Long Island, as I had to make a quick jaunt over to the All Things Digital “East Coast Office” in Midtown. The differences between the two cities of Boston and New York were readily apparent as we walked between the towering skyscrapers. Boston had more of an old-time colonial and working class feel to it, whereas New York had a more hustle and bustle, white-collar feel. I can understand how intense a rivalry can develop between these two cities (esp. in sports); the variations here are more apparent than those between Northern California and Southern California cities.

We spent just an hour inside the News Corp. building before leaving to return back to Penn Station for our Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train ride. I didn’t realize the News Corp. building had a subway stop in the basement — convenient! I’m very fortunate that I’m able to work remotely while on tour. We couldn’t have produced Autumn Gem without having the flexibility to work virtually anywhere, be it in China, Las Vegas or the East Coast. My motto is “Have Internet, will travel!”

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