New Beginings

Here is Eunice's first short film... online at last! A 12 minute documentary, this was screened at the first annual SNBC Film Festival in 2004 and received a certificate of honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It was also screened at the Williams College Reunion Film Festival in 2007.

According to the director, "After the birth of my niece, I was inspired to make my first film - a documentary about four generations of Chinese women in my family and their exploration of new beginnings through motherhood, immigration, culture, music, and faith. A retrospective of their personal journeys through major life changes, this film attempts to capture the strength of spirit passed down through the generations.

My interest in filmmaking comes from my father who had a passion for capturing memories for posterity, first through black and white photos, then silent film, and finally video… After he passed away in 1995, I took a trip home and started going through hundreds of his old videotapes documenting countless music recitals, vacations, reunions, and family milestones. Buried in all this footage were threads of stories that I found myself remembering, reconstructing, and wanting to explore through a more refined narrative. Yet it wasn’t until 2003, after my sister had given birth to her first baby girl and was taking a trip to visit my mother and grandmother, that I found myself for the first time itching to be behind a video camera – not so much to document the actual family gathering, but to capture the nuances of their personalities, ideas, values, actions, and physical selves, so different, yet also so clearly connected. Each had taken from the generations before them but were also passing on things uniquely theirs. The short film format turned out to be the perfect vehicle for exploring this theme."

CAST LISTING
Hong Chen Tao, Grandmother
Terry Tao Lin, Mother
Jennifer Lin Tang, Daughter
Melody Joy Tang, Granddaughter

CREW LISTING
Eunice Lin Nichols, Director, Camera Operator, Editor
Ryan Nichols, Interviewer
Madeleine Lim, Advisor