When
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
This observational, character-driven documentary follows a Chinese school teacher turned animal rescuer who launches an investigation to expose a nationwide dog theft ring. Meanwhile, activists allied with pet owners pressure officials to enact China’s first animal protection law. Their efforts are met with resistance from a powerful business lobby, and the two sides collide during the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. This is a David and Goliath Story about a fearless woman on a mission to protect a vulnerable population, while challenging food traditions that do more harm than good. Our mission is to use this film as an educational tool to promote deeper understanding of human relationships with the natural world through the food systems we inherit, because nothing is immutable to change.
Since the film’s premiere at the Grove in Los Angeles, it has played at numerous festivals in the US, including Arizona, New Mexico, and New York (where it won Best Feature Documentary at the Big Apple Film Festival). It continues to tour the festival circuit with three upcoming screenings in Chicago, Syracuse, and Green Bay. In addition, the film has received global recognition from the Society for East Asian Anthropology. About the film, they wrote: “This intense and emotionally charged film that follows an activist in her fight for the welfare protection of dogs and against the practice of dog meat eating in China, draws the viewer into thinking about the tension between perceiving non-human animals as companions versus perceiving them as food, and consequently the limits of animal – and human – rights.”
RSVP to attend the screening and Q&A here
Watch the trailer here
Before She Sleeps website
Director/Cinematographer: MIJIE LI
Writers, Producers, Editors: J. FAYE YUAN and MARIO DUCOUDRAY
Composer: ADAM BALAZS
Associate Producer: ERIS QIAN and PAULINE TRAN
J. Faye Yuan is a New York-based bilingual curator, producer, writer, and editor. With support from Tribeca Creators Market, Doha Film Institute, Women Make Movies, and New York State Council on the Arts, Faye produced her first feature-length documentary about a maverick Chinese animal activist. In 2021, she edited an award-winning archival film, documenting the 100-year long history of jazz in China. She is currently producing a personal documentary about a Korean adoptee’s decade-long search for his birth parents. Still in production, the film has garnered support from the Korea Film Commission, Seoul Film Commission, American Public Television, and the Queens Arts Council. Most recently, she joined the inaugural PBS Ignite Mentorship Program, which prepares BIPOC filmmakers for a career in public media.
In addition to filmmaking, she is a curator for the Queens Memory Project – a community-driven archiving program supported by Queens Public Library and Queens College with the aim of raising awareness and a sense of ownership in the production of shared historic records. For the third season of its award-winning podcast, Faye was the host of ten dual-lingual episodes about the Asian immigrant experience in Queens, NY.
Faye graduated cum laude from Wellesley College and earned her Master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She is a proud resident of Astoria and an avid home cook.
Interference Archive’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
