July 17, 2004 Question and Answer session: Tadashi Nakamura (directed Yellow Brotherhood and March Rain), Phuong Tang (co-directed Art And Activism On The Ones And Twos), Rex Chen (directed The Fight To Free David Wong), Catherine Barniet (phonetic spelling) (editor of the feature version of Out of Status), and festival coordinator Diana Lee. Picture by Stefania Zamparelli.
LATEST UPDATE, 4/12/05: I recently completed a new version (version 5.0) of the video and it screened in the Chicago Asian American Showcase just screened the video in their festival on April 6. For that festival, the Chicago Reader newspaper commented: "Also screening is Rex ChenŐs succinct video documentary The Fight to Free David Wong [the screened version was 37 minutes], about a Chinese immigrant to the U.S. who may have been wrongfully convicted of murdering a fellow prison inmate."
Upcoming Screenings and Events for The Fight To Free David Wong
Being scheduled: Columbia Law School (fall 2005), Oregon State, and possibly CUNY Law School screenings...
Please email us at dwsc2006 (at) freedavidwong [dot] org for email updates on upcoming screenings or to offer any assistance or ideas you may have for arranging screenings! Please contact us!
Recent Screenings
February 2004: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL A work-in-progress draft of the video was screened at UIUC as part of their Martin Luther King, Jr. week of events.
February 2004: Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY A work-in-progress draft was screened to students at Sarah Lawrence College
April 1, 2004: Poughkeepsie, NY Screening of Excerpts and Discussion, Vassar College. An approximately 10-minute excerpt of the video screened during a panel discussion.
June 5 and June 10, 2004: Dallas, TX, Asian Film Festival of Dallas The 2004 Asian Film Festival of Dallas screened it at the Dallas Museum of Art in their 2004 festival. It received a nomination for Best Documentary Short at the festival.
July 17 and July 23, 2004: New York, NY, Asian American International Film Festival The 2004 Asian American International Film Festival in NYC screened the video on July 17 and July 23, 2004 at the Asia Society. It was very warmly received by the audiences and generated a great deal of discussion and debate.
August 22, 2004: New York, NY, Silk Road Mocha Cafe A community screening and outreach event took place in Chinatown, NYC.
Sept 2, 2004, St. John's Law School, Queens, NY The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association at St. John's Law School students hosted two screenings of The Fight To Free David Wong, a documentary short about the David Wong case, on September 2, 2004. At the first screening, over twenty students and teachers watched the video and participated in a lively discussion afterwards.
Sept 7, 2004, NYU Law School, New York, NY Sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and the Law Students Against the Death Penalty at NYU Law. Over thirty students participated in a post-screening discussion with several of David Wong's supporters. NYU's daily newspaper Washington Square News had an article about the video and the case!
Sept 10, 2004, Toronto, report may be coming soon.
Sept 2004 in Plattsburgh NY
October 13, 2004: Fordham Law School, New York, NY hosted by APALSA for the Fordham Law School community.
October 21, 2004: University of Hawaii's Ethnic Studies Department, Honolulu, HI.
October 24 and 29, 2004: Hawaii International Film Festival, Honolulu, HI The Hawaii International Film Festival screened the video in their festival in Hawaii.
November 23, 2004: Cardozo Law School, New York, NY A screening hosted by Cardozo Law APALSA and other groups.
February 5, 2005: University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA A screening hosted by University of Pennsylvania Law School APALSA at their Mid-Atlantic law students conference.
February 19, 2005: ECAASU Conference at U Penn, Philadelphia, PA An excerpt of the video was screened as part of the conference along with a post-screening discussion.
February 21, 2005: Columbia University, New York, NY A screening and discussion were held as part of a human rights documentary and film festival on campus.
March 28, 2005: Utah Law School, Salt Lake City, UT A screening and discussion were held at Utah Law School.
April 6, 2005 at 6pm: The Chicago Asian American Showcase 2005, Chicago, IL The film festival included the video on a program with other documentaries. The Chicago Reader wrote: "Also screening is Rex ChenŐs succinct video documentary The Fight to Free David Wong, about a Chinese immigrant to the U.S. who may have been wrongfully convicted of murdering a fellow prison inmate."
You Can Screen And View The Video
If your group or organization would like to view the video, please contact us at dwsc2006 (at) freedavidwong [dot] org and we will be happy to help make arrangements for you to screen it. We can also discuss the possibility of arranging for someone to visit your group to speak in person in conjunction with the screening!
We are also offering the video to individuals for free (although we respectfully request a voluntary donation). We simply ask that you obtain permission from us before screening or broadcasting any part of the video. How You Can Help Please help us by supporting our fight to clear David Wong's name! Details on how you can help the fight are available from the main freedavidwong.org page. If you wish to help us with the video, please email us. We could use your assistance with arranging screenings, organizing a speaking tour, grant-seeking, obtaining additional music for the video, interviewing, revising the script, and video editing. If you wish to make a donation toward the video, please send it to the David Wong Support Committee with a note that you wish to assist with production and publicity of the video. Thank you! KEY FACTS ABOUT THE VIDEO The Fight To Free David Wong a 37-minute documentary video Synopsis The documentary chronicles the fight of David Wong, a Chinese immigrant wrongly convicted for a 1986 murder in upstate New York. It follows the community's fight for justice through interviews with witnesses, supporters such as human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, lawyers, scholars, and reviewing legal documents. The case has been widely covered by mainstream and Asian American media, including the New York Times, NBC-TV in New York City, and numerous Chinese-language newspapers. Locations Shot in New York, NY; Plattsburgh, NY; Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, NY; Oakland, CA Participants Include David Wong Yuri Kochiyama, Human Rights Activist William E. Hellerstein, Director of the Second Look Program Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, co-counsel for David Wong Daniel Medwed, Brooklyn Law School Professor, co-counsel for David Wong Jaykumar Menon, Center for Constitutional Rights attorney, co-counsel for David Wong Peter Kwong, Hunter College Professor Members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Plattsburgh, New York Several members of the David Wong Support Committee Music Anti-Social Music provided the music for the documentary
Three of the directors of shorts in the program screened at the 2004 New York City Asian American International Film Festival: Phuong Tang, Tadashi Nakamura, and Rex Chen. Picture by Stefania Zamparelli.
T-shirts available to supporters! DWSC members help display the t-shirts. Picture by Stefania Zamparelli.
Two of the Anti-Social Music performers (who provided music for the video) with director Rex Chen. Picture by Stefania Zamparelli.