Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
"Lessons in Dissent" Documentary Screening and Q&A with Director
The UCLA Center for Chinese Studies presents a documentary screening by Matthew Torne on "Lessons in Dissent," which tells the story of a generation of Hong Kongers dedicated to creating a new more democratic Hong Kong.
Where
Filmed over 18 months, Lessons in Dissent is a kaleidoscopic, visceral experience charting rise a new generation of Hong Kong democracy activists. Dedicated to stopping the introduction of National Education, a showdown with the government seems inevitable for 15 year old schoolboy Joshua Wong. Meanwhile classmate Ma Jai fights political oppression on the streets and in the courts.
Catapulting the viewer on to the streets of Hong Kong and into the heart of the action. The viewer is confronted with the oppressive heat, the stifling humidity and air thick with dissent.
The blurb on the movie used by HKIFF is:
Hong Kong’s simmering identity crisis takes centre stage in Matthew Torne’s Lessons in Dissent, a riveting documentary about two secondary school classmates risking their futures for democracy. While Scholarism founder Joshua Wong becomes a media celebrity for his eloquent objections to National Education in schools, dropout Ma Jai is jailed and may be prosecuted for desecrating the flag. Lessons in Dissent chronicles the decisions and obstacles faced by these youngsters, and their hopes for Hong Kong as it races towards its uncertain future.
Director Matthew Torne moved from Beijing to Hong Kong in 2003 amid the chaos of the SARS outbreak and the turmoil of the Article 23 controversy. He immediately fell in love with the Hong Kong and has been studying its politics ever since. In 2010 he completed a Masters degree at Oxford University on Hong Kong’s post-1997 democratic development. Before making LESSONS IN DISSENT, Matthew worked as an Associate Producer on ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, a Sundance film festival winning documentary, about the Khmer Rouge. LESSONS IN DISSENT was three years in the making and premiered at the 2014 Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Featured Articles
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.