2.23.2006

“Do you know Grace Lee?”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Michelle Lin
Voice: (313) 333-3112
mlinz@riseup.net

Film Premiere: The Grace Lee Project – “Do you know Grace Lee?”
Questioning conventional stereotypes of Asian American women

Event Details:
Saturday, March 18, 2006 Barth Hall in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (4800 Woodward) 6:30 pm VIP Pre-Screening Reception with Director Grace Lee, Tickets: $35
8:00 pm Film Screening with Q/A session with Director to follow, Tickets: $10-20 Adults; $5 Students and Youth

All persons named Grace Lee can attend the VIP Pre-Screening Reception and Film Screening free of charge. Please bring valid identification.

Film Synopsis:
When award-winning Korean-American filmmaker Grace Lee was growing up in Missouri, she was the only Grace Lee she knew. But when she later moved to New York and California, everyone she met seemed to know "another Grace Lee." But why did they assume that all Grace Lees were nice, dutiful, piano-playing bookworms? Pursuing the moving target of Asian American female identity, the filmmaker plunges into a clever, highly unscientific investigation into all those Grace Lees who break the mold - from a fiery social activist to a rebel who tried to burn down her high school! With wit and charm, THE GRACE LEE PROJECT puts a hilarious spin on the eternal question "What's in a name?"

Running Time: 68 min. MPAA Rating: Not Rated Genre: Education, Documentary, Media arts, Women
Website: www.gracelee.net

“Fun and offbeat! Told with humor and insight.”
-Los Angeles Times
“Delightful! A funny but complex meditation on identity, ethnicity, and cultural expectations.”
-Variety

Detroit Screening:
Filmmaker Grace Lee will be in attendance at a Detroit screening of The Grace Lee Project, on Saturday, March 18, 2006. The film features an interview from Detroit’s very own Grace Lee Boggs, long-time movement activist who will be speaking at the event. Grace Lee Boggs has been involved in the Civil Rights, Black Power, environmental justice, and Asian American movements (www.boggscenter.org). All proceeds from the event will go towards Detroit-based youth organizations, Detroit Summer and the Detroit Asian Youth Project.

Detroit Summer is a multiracial, intergenerational organization fostering youth-led movement to rebuild, redefine, and re-spirit Detroit from the ground up. Co-founded by Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs, Detroit Summer was launched in the summer of 1992 to involve youth in hands-on projects, including community gardening, public art murals, a community bicycle repair/recycle shop called Back Alley Bikes, intergenerational dialogues and community organizing. www.detroitsummer.org.

Detroit Asian Youth (DAY) Project was established in 2003 to engage Asian American youth in Detroit to develop leadership skills and awareness for social justice. DAY Project works with Hmong and other Asian American young people in the city to explore the youth’s identities, history, culture, and experiences through community projects and other educational forums.

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