Screenings

Kean University Screening Recap

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Autumn Gem at Kean University

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 burn, since our Megabus to New York’s Penn Station wouldn’t depart until midnight! For several hours, we sat away in the bus terminal next to some power outlets. I charged up all of my devices while using my iPad which I hid in behind a newspaper. No need to attract any would-be thieves late at night!

While sitting in the waiting area for our bus to arrive, we had a great conversation about fate and destiny with Fay, a lawyer who was returning to Boston after a day trip in NY. Maybe I’ve watched Terminator 2 a little too much, but to a degree, I believe that fate is something that you make for yourself. How you react to particular situations and life experiences is entirely up to you. You can be a boat floating down in the stream of life, or you can grab a paddle and start steering your own path!

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Wellesley College Screening Recap

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Rae walks to the Student Center at Wellesley College

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 early night. In the morning, I woke up before Rae to walk around Lake Waban. Armed with my EVDO modem, I got caught up with some work while overlooking the beautiful lake. We were really fortunate to have such great weather on this trip. We were joking to people that we brought California’s weather to the East Coast, and that the typical cold weather was on the other side of the country!

After checking out of the hotel at 11:00, we strolled around the campus for a little bit, taking various photos of each other with the iPad. Yes, I really think this device is going to change the way how many people around the world are going to use computers. The first computer that I recall using was the Apple ][ back in the early 80’s. For children growing up today, I can easily see the iPad becoming their first computer. I marvel at how quickly children can pick up an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and within minutes know how to interact with the device. It sure beats typing “catalog” to get a directory listing in ProDOS!

Coming out of high school, I really wanted to go to college on the East Coast. Fate had it that I went to Stanford instead, but I sometimes wonder how things would have turned out had I went back east. I have always loved the architecture of the East Coast campuses like Princeton and Harvard. The ivy covered buildings and cobblestone walkways make me feel smarter just by walking around! At Wellesley there were a mix of old and new buildings. For instance, the Lulu Chow Wang Student Center was a built just a few years ago. The modern style of the building contrasted with the older brick and stone buildings on campus — which reminded both of us of the Lego castle sets we played with growing up. Inside, I really liked the asymmetrical walls, how the light came in from everywhere and the funky chairs and sofas. Rae and I got a snack to eat, took some more iPad photos and even mailed some clothes and documents back to our home in the Bay Area!

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Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association Screening Recap

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Autumn Gem at the GBCCA

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 of having done this film is that we have been able to bridge the generational gap between our parents and us. Growing up as Chinese Americans, we never heard about Qiu Jin. On the other hand, most people in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, including our parents, learned about Qiu Jin when they were in school. By doing this film, we are at once reconnecting with our parents’ generation as well as helping them reconnect with their own past. Many of them remember admiring Qiu Jin when they were young, and watching the film helped bring back those memories. This is no doubt a critical reason why the older generation has reacted so positively to our film. They are very happy to see second-generation Chinese Americans learning and sharing the stories from their native country.

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Spring Tour 2010 Update

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Sorry for the delay in postings. We’re about to leave for the airport to head back home to the Bay Area. Yesterday, we concluded our Spring 2010 tour of the Southwest and East Coast with a great screening at Stony Brook University in New York.

We have a backlog of posts to write, which I hope to do so on the airplane (maybe using my iPad to type them up). Along with the Stony Brook post, I’ve got to write the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association, Wellesley College, Kean University, Montclair State University and Brookdale Community College recaps. It’s going to be a busy flight back!

Boston University Screening Recap

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With professors from Boston University

Following our screening at Goucher College, we traveled the next morning to Boston. My friend, Joe, whom I’ve known since our days together in the Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Program, is hosting us for the next several days. It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly six years since we last saw each other in-person; there’s been so much that we’ve been catching up with! I’ve said it before on this blog (and I’ll repeat it again) that one of the hidden rewards of touring has been the opportunity to spend time with our friends and family.

On Wednesday, we held a screening at Boston University. We set up shop in the College of Arts and Sciences Building, Room B-12 on 725 Commonwealth Avenue. As I was connecting the computer to the projector, I pleasantly noticed that it was capable of outputting a 720P signal. This made for the best presentation of the film we’ve had to date on this tour — the colors were pretty spot on and the detail from the film was readily apparent.

The event was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Asia. Professors Shelley Hawks, Eugenio Menegon and Susan Lee were present with their students to watch the film; they posed a number of great questions that we hadn’t field before in our past screening. Professor Menegon was especially pleased with the layered portrayal of Qiu Jin and the women’s movement in the film. His class has been studying the role of women in the Republican era of China, and we hope Autumn Gem gave them some good context with which to write their papers! Professor Lee noted that the commemorative statues of Qiu Jin in Shaoxing and Hangzhou were very different from how Qiu Jin portrayed herself in photographs and in the film. In the statues, she’s dressed in women’s clothing and sports a somewhat relaxed post. This contrasts with those remaining photos of Qiu Jin, which depict her in men’s clothing or holding daggers!

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Goucher College Screening Recap

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Autumn Gem at Goucher College

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 at Goucher. He heard about our film from the folks over at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore. Over some Pho dinner, we instantly bonded over various shared interests, including Red Boxes, Ultima (the map of Goucher reminded me of the cloth maps included in the early Ultima games from Origin Systems), philosophy and art history. We found it fascinating that students are required to study abroad (three weeks to a semester or year) in a foreign country. I really valued my time that I spent in Paris during my junior year at Stanford. Studying abroad is one of the things that I recommend to every college student, and it’s great to see a university that agrees!

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World Journal Coverage of Autumn Gem

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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):

University of Maryland Recap and Photos

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Professor Shinagawa introduces us to his Asian American Studies class at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Yesterday was a double feature of Autumn Gem. We woke up in the morning in Baltimore to drive to the University of Maryland, College Park, for a screening at Professor Larry Shinagawa’s Asian American Studies class. The weather was certainly a lot colder and wetter than our previous screenings in Las Vegas and Arizona; good thing we came prepared with an umbrella and extra layers!

The screening was advertised to the Chinese community in the Washington D.C. edition of the World Journal, and there were several members present. Coupled with fifty of so students from Professor Shinagawa’s class, we had a nice sized group to see Autumn Gem. Rae and I gave our expanded presentation at the beginning of the class, talking about our backgrounds growing up Chinese American in California, how we experienced a bit of culture shock when we traveled to China and how the film helps to bridge the gap between our generation and our parents’ generation. Seeing that the students in the class were born in the 90s, there were nearly three generations present at our screening!

While the film was playing, we spoke with Professor Shinagawa in the adjoining room. We learned that he, Rae and Jeff Ow were all at Berkeley at the same time in the 90’s. Small world, indeed! We also discovered that as part of their final project in the class, students have to produce their own short film. When I was in school, I loved those multidisciplinary classes with projects such as these. And, technology has improved to the point where students can produce quality content in just a fraction of the time it used to take.

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Red Emma’s Bookstore Screening and Recap

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Screening at St. John's Church in Baltimore

After we had screened in the Baltimore area during our last tour, we got an email from Red Emma’s Bookstore asking us if we could set up a screening with them. While we weren’t able to schedule anything in our Fall 2010 tour, we made sure to contact them for this one.

The film showing was held at St. John’s United Methodist Church, which Red Emma’s uses for performance-related events. It definitely was the most unique place we’ve screened Autumn Gem in! In some ways, it reminded me of the church from the John Woo film, The Killer. I was half expecting doves to start flying around the church when the film started!

We had an eclectic group of about 30 people at the screening, ranging from students at Johns Hopkins to a teacher and students at College of Notre Dame at Maryland to San Francisco Bay Area residents who were in-town visiting! We had come with Larry, Caitlin and Caitlin’s father to the screening. Afterwards, we drove down to Red Emma’s for a quick bite to eat. We noticed that Qiu Jin was listed among the various F-Bomb feminist revolutionaries in the bookstore’s main window.

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Arizona State University Screening Recap and Photos

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Autumn Gem at Arizona State University

We had a tremendous time in Arizona for our screening at Arizona State University. Three co-sponsors, the Asian Pacific American Studies Program, the Confucius Institute and the Chinese Language Flagship Program pulled out all the stops for us on our two-day stay in Tempe, Arizona.

On Friday, we spoke at two of Professor Jeff Ow’s Intro to Asian Pacific American Studies classes. We went through a presentation that described our lives growing up as Chinese Americans and the forces that shaped us into the artists we are today. Our original goal with Autumn Gem was to introduce the story of Qiu Jin to western audiences. We did not anticipate that this project would also serve as a bridge between our generation and our parents’ generation. Older audience members frequently tell us how much they enjoyed the film and how it reminded them of their own childhood when they first learned about Qiu Jin. They are proud that two members of their children’s generation is bringing this story to a wider audience.

Lunch was spent with members from the Asian Student Coalition at this on-campus restaurant which served organic and locally-produced dishes; for dinner, we went to the House of Tricks just outside of the ASU campus, with Mia and Irene from the Chinese Language Flagship Program. It was great comparing with them their experiences growing up in Arizona with ours in California. We shared stories about our travels to Asia and our future desires to learn Chinese. Irene kept stressing that it’s not too late for us to learn Chinese, and as I mentioned in my previous post, it’s on our to-do list!

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