Model Minority Myth on Film – Nov. 8

Date: November 8, 2020 (Sunday)

Time: 2:00 pm (PST)

The Model Minority Myth is a social construct that has penetrated the public consciousness through the bombardment of stereotypical Asian images in Hollywood.  From Fu Manchu to Harold and Kumar, how have these stereotypes evolved and how does this myth harm Asian Canadian and Asian American communities and how is it used to harm other communities of colour?  The panel will examine this myth, how it has been used in film and television and how it can manifest in the films of from North American Asian filmmakers.

Moderator

Su-Anne Yeo was awarded a PhD in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016. Currently based in Vancouver, she is a sessional instructor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and a faculty associate with the Hong Kong Studies Initiative at the University of British Columbia. Her research and writing about film festivals, Hong Kong cinema, and Asian Canadian screen cultures, among other topics, can be found in a range of scholarly and general interest publications. Alongside her academic research, Su-Anne also works independently as a screen curator and programmer and was director of programming at VAFF from 2005 to 2006.

Li Dong, Director/Producer – Stealing School

Li Dong is an award-winning writer and director currently living and working in Toronto.

Li graduated from Dalhousie University in 2006 with honours in English and history and then went on to graduate from Dalhousie Law School. After law school Li played poker professionally before he was hand-selected by Oscar-nominated director Werner Herzog for his “Rogue Film School”.

Li has since gone on to write and direct numerous short narratives, documentaries and music videos.

 

Hui Tong, Director/Producer – Curtain Up! 

Hui Tong is a filmmaker and freelance writer based in New York/ Beijing. He was born and raised in Beijing and studied History at Cornell University in the U.S. before he came to New York to study documentary at Columbia Journalism School. Having started making short films and documentaries since high school, Curtain Up! is his first feature-length film. He is now finishing up his first book, a combination of history and cultural analysis on the issue of identity, through the lenses of Asian Americans, Chinese Americans, mainland Chinese and overseas Chinese students.

 

Kelly Ng, Director/Producer – Curtain Up!

Having spent most of her journalism life in print, Kelly is grateful for this opportunity to tell the kids’ stories via documentary. Working on Curtain Up! has made her consider more deeply what it means to be Singaporean by nationality, while ethnically Chinese. Kelly is currently a full-time correspondent at Singapore’s The Business Times, covering financial disputes, white-collar crime and fintech. She continues working on documentaries outside of her day job. She hopes to follow the (dirty) money into important stories that may one day land on the big screen.