Here’s a poster for the upcoming screening of Autumn Gem at Stanford University on Monday, November 30, 2009, from 7:00-9:00 pm. The free screening will be held at Cubberley Auditorium, located at 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, California 94305.

Click on the image to see the large version. Feel free to send this to your friends and family. Our goal is to fill up Cubberley Auditorium, which seats 500 people. Help us reach that goal!

We had a couple of firsts at our Autumn Gem screening at City College of San Francisco yesterday. The place was packed, thanks to the combined efforts of the Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, Cinema and Women’s Studies Departments; we had over 90 people in attendance. The second first is one that I’m not all that proud about; we had our first technical mishap during the screening of the film!

Normally, we play the movie off of Rae’s MacBook Pro. Everything was going fine until the midway point in the film when the video completely froze and the audio started repeating! QuickTime X was completely unresponsive and force quitting (command-option-escape) would not work. Fortunately, I had also brought my own MacBook Pro as a backup for this very situation. While Rae answered a few questions from the crowd, I quickly got my MBP set up with the projector and sound system. The rest of the screening went off without any major issues. Phew!

During the Q&A session, someone asked about airing this film on PBS. We reiterated our desire to have the film shown on television. For us, it’s a matter of finding the right contacts and going through the proper channels. If any readers have any contacts, please let us know!

Following the screening, we headed down to Stanford to pick up posters that the Center for East Asian Studies had made for us. We didn’t have much time to talk with the staff there, as we had to get back to our house for an interview with the Palo Alto Weekly. Back in 2003, I had done a photo internship with the Weekly; now, six years later, we’re the ones getting featured!

Here are some photos from the City College of San Francisco screening. Now, it’s on to publicizing our Stanford and Berkeley screenings on 11/30 and 12/3. Help us spread the word!

Now that our tour is over, we’ve identified some things we would have changed regarding our packing strategy (see photo to right). We often felt like we were a rock band traveling the country during this tour. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any roadies to help carry our gear! So, because it’s just the two of us, we have to be extra vigilant and ruthless with regards to what we bring with us.

If you recall from our previous post, Rae carried our clothes and toiletries in her REI Traverse backpack, and I carried all the computers, mobile Internet, camera flash, and power adapters in a Rickshaw Bagworks Medium Commuter Messenger Bag. We took turns dragging around a single Pelican 1510 Carry-On Case that contained 300 DVDs, assorted cables, papers, and my 5D Mark II camera. So, what worked and what didn’t?

For starters, we would try to leave the Pelican at home next time. While ultra-durable and somewhat capacious, it’s also quite heavy and bulky to travel with. When fully loaded, the 1510 tired one’s arm after prolonged periods. Similarly, the Rickshaw bag held a surprising amount of gear, but it too became very heavy to wear over time, even with the critical cross strap (used to distribute the weight more evenly on my body). For the next trip, I think I would try to load everything into my LowePro CompuTrekker AW camera/laptop backpack. I would have to reduce the number of DVDs that we bring with us, but at least 120-140 would fit comfortably along with one computer, my camera, flash, cables, modem and accessories.

Having both MacBook Pros was both a luxury and critical in my mind. If there was a problem with one computer, we could always use the other to run the film. If both failed, we could have resorted to playing the film off DVD. I know several people who love their MacBook Airs, and I think one would be great for Rae, since she isn’t doing development or performing hard core image processing like I am. The Belkin travel surge protector worked well (though like many of our devices, a little bulky), but I was only able to use one of the USB ports to charge one of our iPhones; the device couldn’t charge both devices at the same time. Good thing I brought the tiny iPhone USB AC adapter with us; those things are small!

We made great use of my Verizon EVDO Modem + WiFi router + battery setup; it’s great, but the battery does not make it small and portable. I would consider replacing all three components with a Novatel MiFi 2200 Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot Modem (Verizon Wireless). I would still need an external battery to power the MiFi for longer than 4 hours, but it wouldn’t be as big and heavy as the Tekkeon 3450i that I brought; the AC adapter for it is huge! The other option is to get a smaller battery for the Cradlepoint.

Camera-wise, I’m happy to have brought the 5D Mark II. I’m not so happy about my lens and flash selection. The 550 EX is simply too big of a flash to bring. Maybe getting something like the 7D with its built-in flash would have allowed me to leave the 550 EX at home. The 24-105 f/4L is a decent travel lens, but I really missed my fast primes. Too bad there doesn’t exist a 24-105 f/1.4 lens!

We brought along a stack of Autumn Gem postcards and flyers that we ended up not distributing. One sheet of paper isn’t that bad, but a hundred sheets starts to get bulky.

Onto clothing. I generally packed pretty well on this trip. Two changes, however. I made a mistake bringing two short, synthetic cycling socks instead of long, warmer socks. Though my ankles and feet were never that cold, they could have benefited from a different choice. I brought along a red short-sleeved travel shirt from REI, but I think I only used it twice during the trip. I would replace it next time with a shirt that didn’t wrinkle as easily. Rae tells me that she would have left two shirts at home. It ended up not being too cold, so she could also have left her thermal leggings as well. Rae needs to find a pair of more versatile shoes (comfortable yet stylish), so she would only need to bring one pair instead of two. I got by with a pair of Merrell Moab shoes.

Those travel bottles of saline solution for contact lenses really last a long time. She could have done with just one bottle instead of two. We stayed with friends and family for the majority of the time, so we also could have done without some of the toiletries we brought.

By making these small changes next time, we’ll be able to pack even more efficiently and travel lighter.

Here are a couple of reviews from bloggers who saw Autumn Gem during our recent Midwest/East Coast tour. Enjoy reading them!

• Sing Tao Daily – Boston Screening
• Autumn Gem: The Life of Qiu Jin – J.B Spins, New York Screening
• “Maidens, take up arms!” – The Fword Online, University of Pennsylvania Screening

If you come across any additional blog or newspaper reviews, send them our way!

Our last stop was at the University of Pennsylvania. Following the screening at the Evergreen Senior Club in Delaware, Uncle Don drove us to Philadelphia. World Series fever was in the air, as we saw many banners for the Phillies, as well as people sporting Phillies jackets, hats and shirts.

We had an intimate screening, similar to our first stop on this tour in Madison, Wisconsin. Despite the small size, the audience was very enthusiastic about the film; I bet the cold weather and World Series fever contributed to the small showing; next time, we’ll mobilize and get those Women’s Studies and Chinese Literature professors to require their students to watch the film! Rae and I have definitely taken notes on how to get more people in attendance at our screenings; we’ll be testing out our theories in the ones coming up at Stanford (November 30) and Berkeley (December 3).

Among the audience members was my Stanford friend, Andreea. The two of us were the Theme Associates in La Maison Française our senior year. I have fond memories working with her on in-house classes, wine and cheese nights, and movie nights at the French House. Good times those were back in 1996-1997! Andreea is now an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the university. Her field of research is in Several Complex Variables, which is one complex variable too much for me!

On this tour, we’ve had all sorts of cuisine — Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Kosher, East Coast Seafood, Afghan, American, Indian, Farmer’s Market, Dorm Food, Mediterranean, Chicago-style Pizza, New York Street Food and Vietnamese — but not African. Following the screening, Uncle Don, Andreea, Rae and I had dinner at Abyssinia, an Ethiopian Restaurant near the UPenn campus. Though I really wanted to get a Philly Cheese Steak from some street vendor, the lure of injera and doro wot was too hard to pass up!

And with the UPenn screening, we were done! 17 tour stops in 25 days! Rae and I were supremely tired but very happy with the outcome of our tour. Recap of the entire experience to come soon, but in the meantime, some photos from UPenn!