August 2009 Archives

Many of us at SCHEMA have been wondering when our two passions for diversity and the environment would intersect. After all, Schema is all about being "more than ethnic"—and living in Vancouver means most of all (actually all of us) are big environmentalists. Rather than just complaining about the lack of places to recycle your empty containers while on vacation, join us at a special screening of GREEN LEAP FORWARD and panel discussion about frogs, the earth's diagnostic system. This special event will give you an opportunity to find balance between your inner ethnic cool and inner green side.

Green Leap Forward! a multi-cultural, multi-media eco evening.

Saturday August 22, 2009 | 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM
Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate,
Richmond, B.C. [map]
Free (limited seating)

Following the very successful 2nd Annual New Asia Film Festival in May of this year, Cinevolution Media Society have again partnered with the City of Richmond and other strategic community partners to present an evening of information and viewer interaction, Green Leap Forward! As this is a conscious effort to reach and inform Chinese speaking communities.Chinese translation will be available throughout the screening.

David Wong, a Vancouver born Architect, a most vocal community activist with a very long list of community and public service accomplishments (and life-long lover of frogs!) will make a multimedia presentation on ... you guessed it, frogs!

Edmonton-born actor Olivia Cheng got her start as a broadcast journalist on Entertainment Tonight Canada. She recently starred in Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking (2007), a docudrama about the American author Iris Chang and her research into The Nanking Massacre, a six-week period that followed the Japanese capture of Nanking, then capital of the Republic of China in 1937. UBC Perspectives' correspondent KaGeen Cheung recently found time in Olivia's busy schedule for an interview with the rising actress to discuss the relevance of the film, which was the focus of Saturday's Commemoration of the Day of "Peace in the Asia-Pacific."

For those who may just be discovering the film now, tell us a little about your character in the film?

Olivia: I play Iris Chang, the controversial New York Times best-selling author who wrote The Rape of Nanking. She was an amazing woman who changed the course of history before the age of 30.

And what inspired you to take on the role of Iris Chang. What was involved in preparing for it?

Olivia: I read The Rape of Nanking after filming a project called Broken Trail that also examined Asian history. After reading the book [which records the Nanking Massacre], I wanted to write Iris a thank you letter. Upon Googling her, I found out she'd already committed suicide. I was extremely moved by what she'd accomplished in life and the questions raised by her death. I ended up flying to San Francisco to research her in the hopes writing a movie about her one day, and a few months later, my agent phoned me about this docudrama called Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking.

What was the most memorable experience you had during the shooting?

Olivia: It didn't make the movie, but standing atop the Nanking gate where the Japanese first broke through. I was in costume and meeting one of the professors who had helped Iris a decade earlier. He was struck by how similar we looked. We were rolling and as he got into it, he started talking to me as Iris, and it was moving for me to realize in that moment how I was standing in the very city I'd only read about through a book written by a woman I was now portraying.

And the most challenging part of playing the character of Iris Chang?

Olivia: The most challenging part for me was knowing so much of Iris' story and knowing that this particular project wasn't the platform for all of it. Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking is essentially a documentary, and the focus as it rightly should be, is on the real survivors who tell their stories. But Iris has such a mythical quality to me, and I'd like to see a feature film focused on her story alone.

Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking has won 3 awards and 1 nomination. What do you feel is the most important message of the film? How is the film relevant today?

Olivia: I didn't know that about the awards! I think I knew about some honorable mentions, congratulations Bill Spahic and Anne Pick (co-directors)! I think the most important message of the film Bill and Anne made is about "the power of one." It's a message you watch Iris herself put out in the world through archived footage, and it's a powerful point not to be missed. The film is relevant today because there are still survivors of the Chinese holocaust who have never received any form of apology or compensation from the Japanese government. And I want to be clear that I'm putting the onus on the Japanese government to educate its citizens about their own hand in history, to acknowledge what happened, and to compensate victims in countries like Korea and China. I've met enough Japanese who've become aware of the history on their own and are risking their lives to educate their fellow citizens. What's wrong with that picture? When people are threatened in their own country because there's such a deeply-ingrained, institutionalized form of historical white-washing?

In terms of education, the DVD for Iris Chang: Rape of Nanking comes with a study guide. How do you feel about this becoming an educational tool in North American universities?

Olivia: Wow. I think how Iris Chang must be looking down from where ever she is, amazed at the impact her work is still making across the world.

» A screening of Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking was held at the UBC Robson Square Theatre on Saturday August 16, 2009 as part of the Commemoration of the Day of "Peace in the Asia-Pacific." Presented by the UBC Awareness for "new">BC Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (BC ALPHA). Special guests included Marius van Dijk van Nooten a survivor of child slave-labour during WWII in Asia and Olivia Cheng.

Perhaps growing up in Vancouver has changed the way I approach the question, "But where are you really from?" There is no doubt that my geographical position in this country changes the climate in which that question is asked. Since I've had the opportunity to live and work in Toronto, I have been able to switch gears and not view this infamous question as such a nagging issue. Some might say that it's a compliment to be asked because that means people are genuinely interested in me and my origins. Hmm. Not so much.

Because so many Canadians are from immigrant families I rarely thought it was unusual for people to ask about my background. It was only when people started to focus on one aspect of my ancestry that I caught on to some other, deeply rooted motivations. My heritage is European, African and Caribbean; I do not place an emphasis on any one culture over another (but let me tell you, other people do). In my case, all components of my heritage make me who I am, and, yes, over time I have felt offended when people pick apart my African and Caribbean backgrounds. Let me explain further: Once my "blackness" is confirmed, the revelation is followed up with labels and snap judgements. It's painfully evident that my Welsh heritage is not tackled with the same stereotyping determination. Fortunately, every now and again, the odd person appears with whom I can dialogue and we both walk away learning something about each other.

Most people seem to act out of a sense of entitlement and, within seconds of meeting, they demand, "Where were you born?" I imagine that they want to know how they should treat me, whether they should they call me sista' or senorita. Since my lineage comes from three very different parts of the world, I make a game out of it by answering the questions precisely and exactly without embellishments.