Screening at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

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; Autumn Gem was (and still is) solely financed by the two of us; that’s one reason why we’ve devoted a section of our presentation to fundraising. We’ve been able to recoup some of the production and marketing costs through private donations, but we’ve still got a long way to go. All donations to Autumn Gem are tax-deductible, since the film is fiscally sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society. If you’d like more information on supporting Autumn Gem, visit our support page.

Another question was whether or not Qiu Jin ever saw her family after leaving for Japan. The answer is no; she died without ever seeing them again. Two years after her death, her husband died. Their son was raised by the husband’s family, and the daughter was raised by Qiu Jin’s family. Her daughter was only two years old when Qiu Jin left, but she grew up and eventually wrote several biographies of her mother. We’re aware that Qiu Jin’s granddaughter lives somewhere in the United States, but we’ve been unable to locate her; if anyone reading this can get in touch with her, that would be great!

Here are some photos from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater screening of Autumn Gem.

Screening at University of Wisconsin-Madison

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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 more so than her feminist work. In our film, we argue that you can’t really have one without the other. In order for China to become a strong nation, women had to rise up from their oppressed status. Another question was how we found out about Qiu Jin’s grand-nephew? We didn’t use Facebook, that’s for sure, but we did use existing networks of friends and their friends to locate him.

Earlier in the day, we walked around Madison, stopping by the State Capitol and the Overture Center for the Arts, which had a nice exhibition of Robert Rauschenberg’s Stoned Moon Series. Within a month after the moon landing in 1969, Rauschenberg created a series of 34 lithographs commemorating the event. What he painstakingly did back in 1969 was exactly what we can do so easily today in Photoshop using multiple layers and the overlay blending mode. Qiu Jin and Rauschenberg, in their own ways, were both pioneers of their times!

Following the screening, we went to the Kabul restaurant for dinner with Tanya, along with David from the Center of East Asian Studies (who co-sponsored the event) and my friend Erika from college. While it’s great to travel around the country screening our film, it’s equally rewarding to reconnect with friends and relatives whom we haven’t seen in years. Facebook lets us keep in touch with people virtually, but there’s no substitute for face-to-face interaction!

Here are the photos from the screening.

Packing for a 17 stop, 25 day trip

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 with me on the trip: a garment bag, two suitcases, and a backpack (which held my PowerBook 180 and original Newton MessagePad). When I went back to Paris for a week during Winter Quarter, I just brought one bag with me. That was my first trip where I deliberately tried to minimize the amount of stuff I traveled with; I soon became a convert to minimal packing. It’s so much easier to travel when you don’t have to worry about schlepping too much stuff with you halfway across the world.

That's all we're taking on our 25-day tour

When Rae and I went to France and Spain in 2006, we brought two daypacks with us, an REI Traverse 2006 for Rae and the same REI backpack I had back in 1995. It helped that I didn’t lug around my DSLR with me; we brought two small Canon PowerShots with us on this trip. Traveling with a DSLR, even one that’s relatively small in the 5D Mark II, can get tiresome after awhile. If I were to go on a long vacation again, I’d buy a G11 and just use that.

For our Midwest and East Coast Tour, we both wanted to pack as light as possible. It was determined that Rae would carry all of the clothes and personal items for the trip. I would carry all of the tech equipment, such as two laptops and the camera. Finally, we brought with us my Pelican 1510 hard case to store all of the DVDs that we plan to sell on the trip. Three pieces of luggage, all of them that we can carry onto the airplanes.

The photo to the right shows us with all of our baggage. Not bad for a 25-day, 17 stop tour?

There’s cold weather in the forecast on this trip; we’re dealing with it by wearing multiple layers of clothing. We’ll also be washing our laundry regularly; this is how we’re getting away with bringing a reduced number of clothes. Synthetic fabrics are the key here; they dry quickly and are more durable and wrinkle-resistant than the cotton clothes we normally wear in the Bay Area.

We’re taking two computers (15-inch MacBook Pros) with us on the trip. In case one of the computers breaks down, we’ll still be able to screen the film with the other one. If both of them were to fail, we have the DVD to fall back on. I’m using my Verizon EVDO Wireless Router setup to provide us with mobile Internet across our iPhones and laptops. Because we’re gone for a month, I have to watch out that we don’t go over Verizon’s 5GB bandwidth limit.

After the conclusion of our trip, I’ll write up another report detailing what I would have done differently packing-wise.

First Stop: Madison, Wisconsin

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 their former quarterback 30-23. Favre is the first QB to have beaten all 32 teams in the NFL. Quite an achievement, even if it comes at the expense of his former team.

Tomorrow, we’ll be showing the documentary at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We’re looking forward to kicking off our tour of Autumn Gem to enthusiastic crowds!

Here are some photos from our first night in Madison. Tanya (big thanks for hosting us!) took us out to eat at The Weary Traveler. I noticed that the restaurant was on Twitter, so I tweeted about my menu choice of Hungarian Goulash. Within minutes, Chef Joey responded back. How’s that for service?

Off to Madison

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!

Santa Clara University Screening Recap

Autumn Gem at Santa Clara University

We had a great turnout at the Santa Clara University screening this evening, with nearly 120 people showing up on a Wednesday evening at Daly Science Center, Room 206. Big thanks go out to Barbara Molony, History Department chair at SCU, for organizing this event. Like at the UCSF screening, the demographic among the crowd was broad: students, extras in the movie, family, friends and people who heard about it in our articles in the various Bay Area newspapers. Thanks for coming out!

Yesterday, we received shipment of our official Autumn Gem DVDs. Now on sale at screenings (soon to be available for purchase online), these DVDs have the exact same cut of the film that we’re showing at our screenings. There have been seventeen cuts between the initial rough cut we made in October, 2008, to the final cut today. Special features include storyboards, production stills, and behind-the-scenes photos.

Here are some photos from the Santa Clara screening. Next stop for us is The University of Wisconsin-Madison. Check our screenings page for our complete October Midwest/East Coast tour dates. 16 cities in 25 days. Sounds like a MPG rating for a car!

UCSF Screening Recap and Photos

Autumn Gem at UCSF

Over 80 people came to the UCSF Cole Hall Auditorium screening of Autumn Gem this evening. There was a great mix of relatives, family friends, college buddies, and a whole contingent from UCSF. Thanks to Zhiyong Yang and his crew at UCSF for organizing the successful screening. The pizza was especially a big hit with the crowd; I can’t believe all the pies were eaten tonight!

I wish all of our screenings could be held in a facility like Cole Hall Auditorium. The sound system was great, and every seat in the house could see the movie as it was meant to be seen — big and colorful! Rae and I gave a short presentation on the genesis of Autumn Gem. After two years of hard work, we’re happy to start sharing it with the rest of the country. Our next stop is this coming Wednesday at Santa Clara University. Days later, we’ll be trekking out to Wisconsin for the start of a month-long, sixteen stop tour of Autumn Gem. We’ll be going from the aforementioned Wisconsin to Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Boston, New York, and finally to Pennsylvania. Of course, we’ll be updating on this web site along the way. Tell your friends and family in those areas about Autumn Gem!

UCSF Screening on September 25

Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with our appropriately titled film! BioBridge at UCSF will be hosting a free screening and reception with delicious snacks. Supported by the UCSF Cultural Enrichment Fund.

Friday, September 25 at 6:00pm
Cole Hall Auditorium
UCSF Medical Sciences Building
513 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA

RSVP here on Facebook.

Santa Clara University Screening on September 30

Santa Clara University Screening

Come see AUTUMN GEM in the city in which it was produced! We’ll be screening the documentary at Santa Clara University in Room 206 of the Daly Science Center from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. If you are on Facebook, RSVP for the event here. Seats are limited in the room, so reserve your space now! The screening is sponsored by the History Department at Santa Clara University, and there will be a Q&A session with us following the film.

Here is a map of Santa Clara University. Daly Science Center is circled in black.

Daly Science Center is circled in black

Just days after this screening, we’ll be heading out to the Midwest and East Coast. Check out our tour stops and be sure to let everyone you know in those areas about the film!

Pacific Asia Museum Screening Recap

Autumn Gem at Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena

Rae and I returned last night from Pasadena, where we screened AUTUMN GEM at the Pacific Asia Museum. The museum had been holding a weekly film series for the past few months, and we were the last film on its summer schedule. PAM’s Becky Sun (Community Outreach Coordinator) and Amelia Chapman (Curator of Education) organized and advertised the event to PAM members. Along with our marketing efforts, we estimated about 70-80 people were present at the nighttime showing in the museum’s lovely courtyard. The weather was great and the screen and projector were in fine form; if only every screening could be held in such ideal conditions!

We had a great time meeting new people, along with friends and family. Thanks to Marc, Li Jing, and Rae’s cousins for attending the screening and bringing their friends. We got a number of good contacts for future screenings in Southern California.

Read the rest of this post and see the photos »

Autumn Gem

A Documentary on Modern China's First Feminist

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