This year's Penn Museum's Second Sunday Culture Films, The Family Tree, explore family, ancestry, and connections as they take on different shapes and meanings, depending on geography, heritage, and culture. In what ways do values of the “family tree” manifest? And how do their common traits surprise and humble us?
Dede, I Brought You Back
(dir. Morgan Kroon, 2018, China/Canada, 59 min.)
This world premiere screening of Dede I Brought You Back (2018) showcases a special story about bi-cultural life and the sense of disconnect that inevitably follows. Dede is a 19-year-old first-generation Chinese-Canadian. She’s spent most of her life in Toronto, Canada, but her mom, LiuYe, brings her back to the small village in China where Dede’s grandparents were born. Together, they wrestle with the question, “What is my duty to family and legacy,” while they sift through family relics and visit ancestral graves.
Remarks by Chi-Ming Yang (Penn Cinema Studies) and conversation with the director following the film.
With support from the Asian American Studies Program, the Center for East Asian Studies, the Cinema and Media Studies Program, the Wolf Humanities Center, and the Philadelphia Asian American Film and Filmmakers.
