Joanne Cheng
1946 (79 лет)Born in Beijing, Ms. Cheng earned her BA in English/Journalism from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Upon graduating, Ms. Cheng worked as one of the first English-speaking reporters/anchorwomen for the newly launched China Central Television (CCTV) English language channel from 1987-88 where she directed and hosted the weekly entertainment show "Center Stage" highlighting the latest trends in arts and culture in China. Ms. Cheng immigrated to the United States in 1988 where she studied filmmaking at the University of Maryland, graduating in 1990 with a Masters Degree in Film/TV/Communication Arts.
Ms. Cheng's professional career in the U.S. began as a bilingual PR and media consultant working under her own banner East-West Corridor Communications (based in New York). Here she produced print, video, multimedia and creative marketing tools for corporate America/Fortune 500 companies doing business in China and Chinese markets worldwide. Brands included, among others, AT&T, American Express, Clinique, GE, IBM, MetLife, Philip Morris and Pfizer. For these clients Ms. Cheng provided translation, adaption of scripts, narration and voiceover services along with supervising conceptual strategic repositioning and designs for the Chinese markets and audience.
Cheng's US-China tv/film projects over the past two decades include providing journalism/investigative reports for networks including ABC 20/20 and MTV/Asia, publicity for PBS and the Chinese film industry. Ms. Cheng was the PR/bilingual publicist/translator/interpreter for the 1998 Chinese film delegation to Hollywood led by Zhao Shi, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Radio, Film & Television and renown producer Han Sanping (Mission: Impossible III and 74 other features to date), the Chairman of China Film Group Corporation.
Ms. Cheng was the bilingual publicist and promotional host for the nationally syndicated program CHINESE AMERICANS on PBS in November 2000. In addition, Ms. Cheng also has acted as a rights broker for publishers/authors (i.e. Mario Puzo) and American film and TV libraries in the China market.
Cheng's filmmaking career started in 2000 with her award-winning film CHINA GOLD RUSH, which was broadcast on PBS. Over the last decade, Ms. Cheng has written, directed, produced and narrated three documentaries including the aforementioned CHINA GOLD RUSH, MAMA'S GOLD and GOLDEN LOTUS. Cheng's shorts include HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ (2007), DIGITAL STONE EXHIBITION (2008) the first documentary on 3D printing technology, and LOVE ALL THE WAY (2012). Her first feature was the hybrid film C/O BUTTERLY - The Rhapsody Of The Womb (2015). Her newest documentary trilogy starts with RED FAREWELL (2017) and continues with two in post-production, A CHILD: Autistic Challenge For China (2018) and QUEST OF THE SAGE (2019). Ms. Cheng has four feature films in development, a historical drama A SIHEYAN TALE, a mystery romance BUTTERFLY MANSION, a fantasy actioner JOY GUANYIN and a thriller PHOENIX RISING NOW.
imdb
Red Farewell
Joanne Cheng
A poetic visual elegy celebrating life in the time of death. The film reveals the elaborate rituals of a traditional Chinese "Happy Funeral" for a 104-year-old foot-bound woman in Yunnan Province, southern China. An investigation into the secret of longevity tracing the wisdom of Buddhism.
Red Farewell
Mama's Gold: The Orphans of Shangri-La
Joanne Cheng
MAMA'S GOLD is a heartfelt story of one woman (China Mama) and her 300 ethnic orphans, aged from 2 to 17 years old, many who are survivors of the devastating earthquakes and poverty that struck southwest China in 1996 and 1998. Seen through the close observation of the orphanage's daily life and juxtaposed with the filmmaker's visit to the children's original villages deep in the mountains, the film reveals the painful healing process of orphans struggling to cope with the psychological scars of their past. Paralleled in the film, and against the backdrop of China in the midst of a historical transformation is the conflict China Mama has with her one time friend/donor from the United States, consequently resulting in an unsettling lawsuit that threatens to close the orphanage. MAMA's GOLD makes direct comment on survival, loneliness and the universal struggle in face of great challenges.
Mama's Gold: The Orphans of Shangri-La
China Gold Rush
Joanne Cheng
Against the backdrop of millennial fervor, filmmaker Joanne Cheng journeys from Times Square to Tiananmen Square seeking a definition of China on the eve of the 21st Century. Interviewing internet surfers, business executives, avant-garde artists, punk rockers, "China Watchers" and Westerners living in China, she reveals a society in transitional mode as it moves rapidly towards modernity.
China Gold Rush
Golden Lotus: The Legacy of Bound Feet
Joanne Cheng
Across China, the filmmaker searches and finds survivors of Bound Feet - China's 1000 year old tradition of erotic beauty and female survival. Through the exclusive portrayal of 12 women of a bygone era,film reveals the dark secret of the Chinese civilization and women's changing destiny in a society once, and perhaps still, dominated by men.
Golden Lotus: The Legacy of Bound Feet
金童闭女
Joanne Cheng
Through close observation of autistic children and young adults (ranging from 3 to 24 years old), the film reveals the challenges of some of the fast growing, yet invisible population across China, all fighting in their own way to survive in a competitive society. The focus is on the artistic journey of some individuals who evolve through painting and music, while their parents learn to accept reality. The film questions the boundaries between "normal" and "abnormal" while capturing the unique voice of those most often silent.
A Child: Autistic Challenge for China
C/O Butterfly - A Rhapsody of the Womb
Joanne Cheng
In C/O BUTTERFLY, the viewer encounters an abortion, enters a womb, a cave, a stream-of-consciousness to meet two women at the crossroad both haunted by lives that could have been. PHOENIX, in her 40s and an unmarried writer, wants a child via IVF; BUTTERFLY, in her 20s, entangled with a man of power, aborts one. Viewers walk along the chilly interiors of the nightmares of the two women haunted by the spirit of the crushed fetus who lives on. The film is a eulogy of life lost. Defying genre conventions, C/O BUTTERFLY is a hybrid of styles of documentary, psycho drama and animation. Poetic and sometimes surreal, the film explores the core issues of human dilemma all associated with womb, the source of life.
C/O Butterfly - A Rhapsody of the Womb
Quest of the Sage
Joanne Cheng
From the Cave of Confucius to the pyramid-shaped Tomb of Shaohao, known as the ancestor of Confucius. The filmmaker travels to the heart of ancient Chinese civilization meeting with descendants of Confucius and attending workshops for Western professors of philosophy and Chinese teenagers offering enlightenment on traditional Chinese values once condemned but now redefined to meet the challenges faced by a modern China.
Quest of the Sage
