China Event: Film Screening and Discussion "Golden Gate Girls (2013)"

Golden Gate Girls tells the fascinating story of filmmaker Esther Eng: the first woman to direct Chinese-language films in the US, the most prominent female director in Hong Kong in the 1930s, and for most of the 1940s, the only woman directing feature-length films in the US. A San Francisco native and open lesbian, her contribution to film history is largely unknown and many of her 11 feature films remain lost. With newly discovered images and captivating interviews with those who knew Eng, filmmaker S.

Golden Gate Girls tells the fascinating story of filmmaker Esther Eng: the first woman to direct Chinese-language films in the US, the most prominent female director in Hong Kong in the 1930s, and for most of the 1940s, the only woman directing feature-length films in the US. A San Francisco native and open lesbian, her contribution to film history is largely unknown and many of her 11 feature films remain lost. With newly discovered images and captivating interviews with those who knew Eng, filmmaker S. Louisa Wei uncovers a rich chapter of film history that challenges both gender hierarchies and national narratives. (88 mins., DCP)

Stay after the screening for a discussion with Wei and Ohio State Professors Linda Mizejewski (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), and Judith Mayne (emerita, Department of French and Italian), who also appears in the film.

Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Departments of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and East Asian Languages and Literatures.

Admission: $6 members, students, seniors / $8 general public