STARS YOUNG AND OLD ALL AROUND US
STARS YOUNG AND OLD ALL AROUND US
BY Gerrye Wong November 1, 2025
Congratulations are in order to my favorite 100 year-old Wing Lai who received a prestigious gold medal at the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall in the center of Chinatown on Sacramento and Grant Avenues recently. San Francisco native born and bred Wing is a United States veteran who served in the China Burma War during World War II. Wing was honored at this 80th Anniversary of the surrender of Japan and the return of Taiwan and Penglu Island to China. In honor of service during the Burma China skirmish while stationed near the Burma Road, Wing was presented the 80th Anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Victory Commemorative Medal from the Government of the People’s Republic of China by San Francisco Consul General Zhang Jianmin. Following the ceremony he and wife Dorothy were able to see the many exhibits chronicling this sad history of China during those turbulent years preceding and during the China/Japan Wars.
Following his service in the war, which drafted him when he was only 18 years old, he took over the family business, Ralph & Sons, selling merchandise to retail stores throughout the Greater Bay Area. Always active, he has supported the Chinatown YMCA annually during its fundraising golf tournament drive and yearly Crab Feast. Still active in his 100th year, he continues to play golf and bike for exercise. He is happy people are finally giving recognition to those Chinese Americans who served the United States in times of war. The China/Japan War Museum is situated in the former Asian Week business office, where I was formerly a weekly columnist in this only English language newspaper which serviced the Chinese American readership all over the United States 1980s-2000s. The museum was established by Asian Week’s former publisher, Mrs. Florence Fang.
BLACK HAIRED ANNIE COMES TO PALO ALTO STAGE
Everyone’s favorite on stage, ANNIE, is being presented by the Palo Alto Players nonprofit theater running from November 7-23. Especially exciting news is that the role of Annie, the poor orphan, will not be played by a curly haired red-head this time. She will be black haired and in the lively body of 8 year old Julie Li. This pintsized powerhouse is thrilled for her debut in Palo Alto Players playing in the lead role, no less. Julie in an interview said when she saw the original movie, she was impressed with the story’s message that to keep reminding oneself – the sun will come out tomorrow.
Julie claims she loves singing her heart out on stage, She played the lead role of Junie B. recently in the San Jose Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose’s production of Junie B. Jones recently.
Julie Li can be seen at the Luci Stern Theatre from November 7-23 as the plucky little orphan Annie singing her favorite song TOMORROW! . click here to get a sneak peek at pint size Julie Li’s sensational full voice rendition of “Tomorrow! And she will be a red haired darling on stage when you see her!
SILICON VALLEY ASIAN PACIFIC FILMFEST 2025
The 11th Annual Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest was held recently at the AMC Sunnyvale Theatre with a three day schedule of presenting documentary full length and short films. Presented by the Contemporary Asian theater Scene (CATS), the years theme was The Transformative Power of Art. A sold out Opening Night crowd saw the film THIRD ACT, a film by Emmy-winning filmmaker Tadishi Nakamura, a fourth generation Japanese American. His film was about his father, Robert A. Nakamura, whom many called “the godfather of Asian American media. As Tadishi explained during the Q&A session moderated by NBC Bay Area News Anchor Janelle Wang, this film began as a documentary about his father’s career but took a turn with a Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis, and evolved into an exploration on art, activism, grief and fatherhood.
Saturday’s presentation was a full day of movie shorts under themes Living the Life and We’re In This Together. One film, Mahu: a Trans-Pacific Love Letter was followed by a live performance by Kanoe Kahaku, an accomplished award-winning hula dancer of Halau Na Wai Ola in Campbell, California. Saturday evening showed the film NEW WAVE by Chinese Vietnamese American award-winning filmmaker and writer Elizabeth Ai, whose work explores identity, memory and survival. This New Wave feature premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, earning a Special Jury Mention for Best New Documentary Director. Moderating a discussion following the film was award-winning journalist with a three decade career, Robert Handa, who recently was named 2022 Best Media Personality in a Metro Silicon Valley readers’ poll. For this year’s festival Adrienne Reiko Iwanaga was presented the 2025 Image hero Award.
Sunday’ s showings were equally as interesting in variety of subjects. MAKING WAVES; THE RISE OF ASIAN AMERICA with remarks following by co-directors and producers Josh Chuck and Jon Osaki was thought provoking and eye opening. Brave To Be Me Shorts , ranged from stories about San Jose’s Japantown to other interesting titles such as WHITEWASHED, SHOWTIME and NANI. NBC Bay Area’s weekday morning traffic anchor, Mike Inouye moderated a Q&A session with the movie directors Vivek Menon, Mainak Dhar and Jason Leong. Sunday evening’s theme was Art in Action Shorts with Moderator trailblazing journalist David Louie who was the first Asian American on-air reporter at KGO TV in 1972 . Ending short of the filmfest was popular director Rick Quan with his film titled ALONG COMES LARRY, THE LARRY RAMOS STORY.
Throughout the Filmfest, audiences spoke about pleasure at seeing so many burgeoning Asian filmmakers bringing many so far untold stories to the screen. I must commend the whole army of black shirted volunteers who helped to make this all volunteer run filmfest the success it has become through the years. Congratulations to CATS for another fine array of films and I spent the following week seeing other submitted films on CATS roster through their online movie site. Lots of talent out there and thanks to CATS, so many had a chance to show their finished products to an appreciative audience.
