On Thursday Apr. 14, Malden Reads hosted another movie event, this time in the Jenkins Auditorium at Malden High School. The movie shown was a documentary film called “My Life in China.” The film was screened in cooperation with the Chinese Culture Connection. It was initially released on Nov. 9, 2014 with the screenplay written by Ehren Parks and directed by Kenneth Eng, who was present at the event last night.
“My Life In China” is a film that takes viewers on a journey to rural China where an emotional revelation takes place. The story explores Eng’s struggle to understand his father’s immigration story. Eng says that “[His] father would always tell [them] his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on [his] deaf ears until [he] returned to China with him.” He reminisces that “In 2008, [they] retraced his journey back to the home village while visiting family along the way. [His] father wanted to see for himself if he could spend the rest of his days in the place where he was born. As a documentary filmmaker, [He] naturally brought [his] camera to see what [he] could learn. During [his] entire childhood, [he] couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of [his] father’s story until [he] saw it with [his] own eyes. It’s only now that [he is] beginning to understand his selfless act. And for that, [he is] forever grateful.”
“My Life in China” won the 2014 jury award for Best Documentary at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and was an Official Selection for nine other international film festivals. The film combines parts in English with Chinese subtitles and Chinese with English subtitles.
For more information on the director and his other films, go to http://www.kennetheng.com
