The Curse of Quon Gwon - on ABC 7

OAKLAND, CA (KGO) -- A rare find, in an Oakland basement, has film historians buzzing. The 35-minute silent movie had been in one family's possession since 1916. Now, almost 100 years after it was made, it's shedding light on the lives of Chinese Americans in the Bay Area.

The Curse of Quon Gwon is the earliest example of Chinese American filmmaking known to exist today, and it is also one of the few American silent feature films made by a woman. Written and directed by Marion Wong, it was produced in 1916-17 by the Mandarin Film Company in Oakland, California. Wong, born 1895 in San Francisco, also plays the film's apparent villainess. Many of the actors in the movie are family members, including Wong's sister-in-law, Violet Wong (the heroine), and Marion's mother, Chin Shee (the elder matron). Other family members were involved in different aspects of the film's production, including costuming and finance. Actor Harvey Soo Hoo plays the male lead.

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[toddsoohoo]

You can find related material at Arthur Dong's site...

deepfocusproductions (dot com)

[ThePurpleSeahorse]

@royceoytube You should be proud of your family's legacy! I only wish more eyes had seen this film back when it was made. Perhaps racism would've been a bit tampered in this country if people could see that our Asian immigrants had the same experiences as our European new arrivals. My hometown still deals with this issue today, only the specific Asian and European countries are different.

I hope they plan on putting this movie on DVD.

[hollaliljuju]

ahhh i want to watch this!!!

where could you get this??

my last name is Quon

[tahzer]

wow i'd love to watch that o.o

[hahumiaomiao]

Hi, any update?

I'd love to have the opportunity to chat with your grandma.

Thanks!

[royceoytube]

Let me check with my grandmother.

[hahumiaomiao]

Is your grandmother still around? I'd really love to communicate with her. I'm a film scholar with special interest in early Asian American cinema. And I work in Bay Area. Thank you!

[royceoytube]

I don't really know, my grandmother, the daughter of Marion wong just told me in 2007 and i haven't studied on it.

[hahumiaomiao]

really?! Did you hear about this movie before it was unearthed? Did your great-grandmother ever talk about it and/or her other forays into the then unchartered land of filmmaking?

[royceoytube]

Marion Wong died of Lukemia in 1982