Date: Friday, March 29, 2019
Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Room 182, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IBLC)
On Friday, March 29th, The Chinese Language Program hosted their first CHIN 243 documentary film exhibition: “To Us, For Us & By Us”. The exhibition was brought together by our Faculty members, Teaching Assistants (TA), Work Learns (WL), volunteers, as well as our Chinese heritage students of CHIN 243 and their friends and families.
Family, friends and fellow classmates, alongside with faculty members came to listen and watch the student’s final projects. Documentaries and personal stories were presented, leading the audience into their personal lives. These works aimed to explore the following question: Growing up in different places with various background as Asians, what does the interlinking cultures of the East and the West bring forth?
On the day of the event, a total of 12 students shared their stories: 5 students showcased heartfelt personal compositions while 7 students presented creative documentaries on the process of their identification and self-exploration.
Essay excerpts featured beautifully written works, one student, coming to Canada at his very young age, shared feelings connected to the autumn rains of his hometown in China, while another compared his self-identity to the famous Hong Kong-style milk tea, mixed by Western coffee and milk as well as Eastern tea. Documentaries screened also covered a wide range of experiences from a song cover dedicated to her parents as the first generation of immigrants to a touching tale of growing up as a middle child in an immigrant family facing intercultural struggles. Professor Hsiang-ning Sunnie Wang even prepared a sincere video herself, dedicated to her CHIN 243 students.
Let us take a look at our prize winners of the night! To see all the wonderful works, including the ones that were not showcased at the event, please visit our course website.
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Film Category
- “Most Improved” awarded to Justen Lee (李亦凯)
- “Most Heart-Warming” awarded to Lily Wu (吴丽晴)
- “World Traveler” awarded to Angela Zhou (周晓盈)
- “Most Creative” and “Banana Award” awarded to Lisa Liu (劉師茜)
- “Most Dazzling” awarded to Richard Jiang (江泽群)
- “Most Touching” and “Audience Favourite” awarded to Maelin Cheung (张美龄)
- “Best Picture” awarded to Camilla Bjorner (徐楚)
Figure 1 & 2: Lily Wu’s father embracing his daughter with a long hug upon hearing the song Lily wrote to him.
Figure 3 & 4: Award-winning musician Richard Jiang and his family.
Figure 5 & 6: Maelin Cheung’s “Becoming Chinese-Canadian” brought the audience on a journey of self-exploration.
Figure 7 & 8: Twins Julian Lee and Justen Lee sharing spotlight on victory.
Figure 9 & 10: Having lived on multiple continents, Angela Zhou’s inspiring documentary added a hint of sweet sorrowness to the festival.
Figure 11 & 12: As a slur, Banana is used to describe Asians who are “yellow on the outside, white on the inside”. Lisa Liu’s whiteboard video was one of the most creative works submitted.
Figure 13 & 14: Camilla Bjorner’s stunning film of her passion as a hip hop artist wowed fans from all over the world.
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Composition Category
- “Most Improved” awarded to Joshua Chen (陳憶恆)
- “Dark Horse” awarded to Reigan Lee (李立丞)
- “Most Creative Writer” and “Banana Award” awarded to Jacqueline Ng (吴颖媞)
- “Living Book” awarded to Yee Siong Pang (彭裕祥)
- “Best Author” awarded to Geoff Luo (罗卿源)
Figure 15 & 16: 74 year-old Yee Siong Pang sharing his stories with the audience and his family.
Figure 17 & 18: Geoff Luo (Left) and Jacqueline Ng’s (Right) narrative essays captured several powerful moments of their lives.
Figure 19: Joshua Chen’s significant progress in Chinese was recognized. (Right)
Figure 20: Reigan Lee and his proud mother along with Professor Hsiang-ning Sunnie Wang.
Between presentations, participants enjoyed an intermission of interactive games testing their creativity and classroom knowledge. A journey of self-exploration, the evening was filled with laughter, cheers and even some tears were shed due to the touching, personal stories the students shared.
Figure 21 & 22 : CHIN 243 students having a great time during the game.
Figure 22 & 24: Justin Koh solving the extra-hard riddle presented by volunteers, TAs, and Work-Learns.
Huge thanks to all TA’s, WL’s, and volunteers for putting the exhibition together as well as the students for all their hard work. Once again, the exhibition was a very successful event and thank you everyone for coming out to support, especially the family members and friends of the students.
For more photos of the event, please visit our Facebook page