The W.O.W. Youth Series kicked off with an Asian American Female Filmmakers Panel this past June, centering Asian American female narratives and voices discussing the many obstacles Asian American female filmmakers face in a predominantly white and male film industry. NYU film student and W.O.W short film director, Denise Zhou, moderated a discussion with three Asian American female filmmakers, ManSee Kong, Ursula Liang, and Theresa Loong about how their race and gender intersect to inform their work and address their challenges working in the film business. 

As a continuation of this series, we will be holding screenings of all three filmmakers' films at 26 Mott St. First up is Theresa Loong's Every Day Is a Holiday Documentary Film. After the screening, Theresa will invite the public to share stories and to create an action plan for collection and dissemination as digital zine on the Every Day Is a Holiday web site. 

SPECIAL NOTES:

-This presentation is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts’ 2017 Electronic Media and Film Presentation Funds Grant program, administered by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.

-This event will prioritize youth attendees, but also welcomes the public.

ABOUT EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY

Every Day is a Holiday is a 56-minute documentary film fiscally sponsored by Women Make Movies. It is a story about Theresa’s father, Paul Loong, a war veteran, prisoner-of-war, and immigrant who takes a complicated path to U.S. citizenship. The film is made more dramatic by Theresa’s discovery of her father’s wartime diary. Theresa creates an intimate portrait of her father, a man fifty years her senior. The documentary explores the bonds of the father-daughter relationship and place themes of growing older, immigration and racism in the context of “living history.” Paul Loong talks of his experiences as a POW in Japan and his subsequent quest to become an American. We see shots of New York’s Chinatown and discover why, despite much suffering, “Every Day Is a Holiday.”

ABOUT THERESA LOONG

THERESA LOONG is a director who creates intergenerational storytelling experiences focused on memory, identity, and immigration through the use of film, games and apps. Her documentary, “Every Day Is a Holiday,” showed on over 200 public television stations. She consulted on digital storytelling games for “The Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad.” Theresa received distinction from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Her work has been exhibited at Sala de Exposiciones, Teriennale di Milano, and Circulo de Bellas Artes. She is chairperson of The FilmShop, a film collective based in New York.