ABOUT THE 2008-2009 “CHINESE FILM DIRECTORS” PROJECT

Xiexie: Special Thanks to the University of Pennsylvania

Cinema Studies Director Dr. Karen Beckman and Associate Director Mr. Nicola Gentili.
Critical Writing Director Dr. Valerie Ross and CPCW Director Dr. Al Filreis.
David B. Weigle Information Commons Director Ms. Anu Vedantham.

The Students

As a prerequisite for enrolling in Cinema Studies 299.301, a course in Chinese Film Directors offered during fall 2008 at the University of Pennsylvania, the students should have previously finished their Writing Requirement by successfully completing a Penn Critical Writing Seminar.

Mr. Chongping Chen was born in Fuzhou, China, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At Penn, he is a double major in Finance, at the Wharton School, and in Computer Engineering, in the School of Engineering. He will graduate in 2010. To meet the prerequisite for CINE 299, he first completed the course Immigrant Lives, a Critical Writing Seminar in Global English, with instructor Mera Moore.

Mr. Maosheng Dong was born in Fuzhou, China, and raised in Michigan. At Penn, he is a double major in Finance, at the Wharton School, and in Legal Studies, in the School of Arts and Sciences. He will graduate in 2010. To meet the prerequisite for CINE 299, he first completed the course Troubling Memories, a Critical Writing Seminar in English, with instructor Katherine Bennett.

Ms. Xiaomeng Hu was born in Beijing, China, and raised in Hawai`i. At Penn, she is a double major in Finance, at the Wharton School, and in Mathematics, in the School of Arts and Sciences. She will graduate in 2010. To meet the prerequisite for CINE 299, she first completed the course Chinese Medicine, a Critical Writing Seminar in Science, Technology, and Society, with instructor Hillary Smith.

Building on principles of academic writing covered in their respective Critical Writing Seminars, in the Chinese Film Directors course, these three students undertook to create succinct yet informative professional biographies of 33 Chinese film directors, along with an introductory overview locating those directors within significant movements in Chinese cinema history, together with useful bibliographies and filmographies. Their website was built for this purpose.

 
The Instructor

Dr. Mera Moore (T. Mera Moore Lafferty, Ph.D.) is a Fellow in the Critical Writing Program and the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. As well as Critical Writing, she also teaches Asian American Studies, Cinema Studies, and Theatre Arts. While an undergraduate at Ohio State University, she studied Mandarin Chinese, translating Xiong Foxi’s 1923 play Yishujia (The Artist) into English. In graduate school at the University of Hawai`i, she studied Asian and Asian American theatre, literature, and film. Her specializations are in drama, poetry, and cinema about immigration, and in the teaching of writing.