Film & Video, Talks & Lectures, and part of Society For Asian Art

Well-known Taiwanese film director Mei-Juin Chen will screen her film about the life and times of Li XiangLan, who in her lifetime was known by many different names, among them Shirley or Yoshiko Yamaguchi. She was an opera singer, film actress in both Chinese and Japanese films, pop idol, accused of being a traitor in China, wife of artist Noguchi Isamu. She was a prominent movie star and singer from the late 1930’s to 1958 when she married a Japanese diplomat and retired from a successful but controversial career. She served as a goodwill ambassador and was active in the Women’s Fund to compensate comfort women. Her most famous song “Ye Lai Xiang” (The Tuberose) is still hummed by Chinese around the world. The hour-long movie will be followed by a Q&A session with the award-winning movie director.
Mei-Juin Chen has an MA in Visual Anthropology from USC. In 1993 she founded Lotus Films and embarked on a career as a documentary film maker. Her work has appeared in major film festivals around the world. In her work she continually seeks to explore how culture, nationality, and society shapes our sense of who we are and how it leads us to embrace multiple identities.
 
This program is co-presented by the SAA, Asian Art Museum, and Center for Asian American Media