About the Film
From 2000-2008, China was the leading country for U.S. international adoptions. There are now approximately 70,000 Chinese children being raised in the United States. Wo Ai Ni Mommy explores what happens when an older Chinese girl is adopted into an American family. This film reveals the complicated gains and losses that are an inherent aspect of international, transracial adoption.
In 2007 Donna and Jeff Sadowsky of Long Island, New York submitted their dossier to adopt eight-year old Fang Sui Yong from Guangzhou, China. From the very first moment Sui Yong meets her new mother, Donna, we get a real sense of the emotional confusion and loss Sui Yong experiences, as adoption workers translate their first words of communication. This day will change Sui Yong’s life, forever. Language, habits, food, everything she knows will never be the same. Her new life in America is filled with happiness and confusion. As she struggles to survive in this new world, we witness her transform into a lively, outspoken American. Sui Yong has become someone neither she nor Donna could have imagined. In a sense, she’s the same girl Donna met in Guangzhou all those months ago – and yet she’s utterly different.
Stephanie Wang-Breal, Director//Producer
Stephanie Wang-Breal has been producing stories for television since 1999. She has worked with various media outlets including CNN, MTV, the Biography Channel and UNICEF. In 2006, Stephanie produced and directed her first short, independent film, From Infirmity to Firmness, about the beneficial aspects of yoga for individuals living with HIV. This film screened at the San Francisco Short film festival in 2007 and it helped the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York receive a grant from the Walt Disney foundation for their free HIV positive yoga class.
Gigi Wong, Editor
Gigi graduated with a Media Studies degree from the University of Westminister. In 2001, she was commissioned to direct and produce a popular soul searching film Remade in Hong Kong I and it’s sequel Remade in Hong Kong II. Following this success, she completed a documentary series, The New X-Generation, in 2007. In the last 3 years, she has worked with international celebrated directors, like Weijun Chen and Marije Meerman, and edited some most fascinating observational films, The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World (2008); I Wanna Be Boss aka China Prep (2008); Beyond the Game (2008), etc. These films are not only loved by the audiences worldwide but have also screened in numerous film festivals such as IDFA & TIFF.
Paul Goldman, Composer of Original Music
After graduating from the Berklee College of Music with a degree in film scoring in 1993, Paul Goldman started his career as a young musician and composer in his New York City apartment. In 1994 Goldman founded Ear Goo, Inc. In the past 15 years, he has built a reputation for original music and sound design for television networks, advertising agencies and independent filmmakers.
Goldman’s independent film work includes over 50 features, shorts and student films that have garnered awards from the Academy Awards, Sundance Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival and numerous national and international film festivals. Other notable awards include Addy, Clio, Peabody, Gracie, Beacon, Promax, BDA, New York Festival and Art Directors Club.
Judith Helfand, Consulting Producer
Judith is a filmmaker, activist and educator. She’s best-known for her ability to take the dark, cynical worlds of chemical exposure, heedless corporate behavior and environmental injustice and make them personal, resonant, highly charged and entertaining. Her films include The Uprising of 34, the Sundance-award-winning, twice Emmy-nominated Blue Vinyl, its Peabody-award-winning prequel A Healthy Baby Girl and, most recently, Everything's Cool. Helfand co-founded Working Films and Chicken and Egg Pictures. She has also taught at NYU, co-designed and taught "DOC-BOOT CAMP" for New School University, and recently completed her first bi-annual semester as Artist-in-Residence at the University Of Wisconsin, Madison, where she's teaching "environmental documentary". In November, 2007, Helfand received a United States Artist Fellowship grant, one of fifty awarded to “America’s finest living artists.” She is currently working on her next project, COOKED, about the 1995 Chicago heat wave. Helfand is looking forward to adopting a baby in the next year.
Jean Tsien, Consulting Producer
For the past 25 years, Jean has been editing and producing award-winning documentaries and narrative films. Her films include the 2001 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature “Scottsboro: An American Tragedy,” the Peabody Award-winning film, "Malcolm X: Make It Plain," for which she received an Emmy nomination for Best Editing, as well as the Peabody and Christopher Award-winning film, "Travis". Jean’s most recent work, “Please Vote for Me” received the 2007 Silverdocs Sterling Award for Best Feature Documentary. She has also received a Golden Reel for her role as ADR Supervisor on the Academy Award-winning film, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.
Since 2001, Jean has served on the board for The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences. Jean also consults and advises young filmmakers who are launching their careers in the feature documentary domain. She is currently working as an Executive Producer on the BBC Storyville documentary, “Taxiland”.
Cast
- Dr. Amanda Baden
- Roman, Tammy and Michelle Lopez
- Marie and Phoebe Parmer
- Donna, Jeff, Jason, Jared, Faith and Darah Sadowsky
- Tracy, Shawn and Jordan Smith
- Barbara Tjiong
