Saving Face
In Manhattan, the brilliant Chinese-American lesbian surgeon Wil is surprised by the arrival of her forty-eight year old widow mother to her apartment. Ma was banished from Flushing, Queens, when her father discovered that she was pregnant. The presence of Ma affects the personal life of Wil, who is in love with the daughter of her boss at the hospital, the dancer Vivian Shing. Once her grandfather has promised that her mother would only return to Flushing remarried or proving that it was an immaculate conception, Wil tries to find a Chinese bachelor to marry Ma.
SELECTED BY Mariruth Kennedy
2021 Distinguished Friend of the Festival Recipient
“It was hard for me to choose just one film. Several are in my top list, like The Gymnast, But I’m a cheerleader, Tucked, and so many more. Ultimately,I chose this sweet film because it tackles stereotypes about race.gender, age and sexuality. It was one of the first lesbian films to star Asian actors. It’s a sweet and funny and hopeful film that stars the incomparable Joan Chen as a widowed Chinese woman with a secret who moves in with her (closeted) daughter who is at the start of a budding relationship with her girlfriend.”
TRAILER
TICKETS
EVENT AT A GLANCE
Time: 3:00 pm
Cost: $10 – 12
Venue: Green Light Cinema
Duration: 91 mins
Year: 2004
Language: English, Mandarin, Shanghainese
Director: Alice Wu
Country: USA
Type: Asian American, Comedy, Foreign Language, Lesbian