The Trained Chinese Tongue. 1994. USA. Directed by Laurie Wen. 16mm, courtesy Harvard Film Archive. In English, Cantonese, Mandarin. 20 min.
…And the Pursuit of Happiness. 1986. USA. Directed by Louis Malle. DCP. 80 min.
French director Louis Malle—a US resident since the mid-1970s—traveled across the country to meet immigrants of different backgrounds, origins, languages, and occupations. In …And the Pursuit of Happiness, Malle paints a humane, multilingual portrait of people who pursue one common dream: to find happiness and prosperity as they overcome cultural barriers in a utopian work in progress called the United States of America. In The Trained Chinese Tongue, Laurie Wen explores Chinese American identity, language, and culinary rituals by approaching immigrant women at a Chinese grocery store and filming them in their homes.