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To celebrate the moving image VASA presents works from various paradigms and genres.The series is supported through the actions of the VASA community of volunteers.

Yinan Wang, United States/China

Yen Ching:
a family portrait of a Chinese restaurant

Yen Ching is a 60-minute documentary film taking a fresh look at the family dynamics in a Chinese restaurant of the same name. The film takes an intimate look at the how a typical Chinese restaurant owner, named Chen, and his children, practice their very different American dreams. Yen Ching sheds light on the Chinese restaurant owner’s life as it explores his dilemma. Neither of his sons, for very different reasons, wants to follow the traditional Chinese/Chinese-American path in which children take over the family business.

© Yinan Wang
Directed by Yinan Wang
Length: 64:20
May be viewed full screen

Yinan Wang was born and raised in Beijing. He is a filmmaker, photographer, occasional stop-motion-animator. In China, Yinan studied visual arts and film, making documentaries about minority cultures. In 2013 he transferred to UWM where he finished up his BFA degree in Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Now he is working on his MFA at Temple University.

He is currently living in Milwaukee, teaching online for Temple, and working on his MFA thesis, a study of Chinese immigrants in the US.

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