Keep your eyes out for this short film hitting a film festival near you. The topic of paper sons is rarely discussed in the Chinese community. The short film “Journey of a Paper Son” delves straight in with this melodramatic look at the subject. Here’s a synopsis:

In “Journey of a Paper Son,” an elderly Chinese man (Jack Ong), who’s dying from cancer, shocks his family when he reveals that he’s a “paper son” (one who illegally immigrated to the U.S., using fake documents and claiming he’s the son of an American citizen) and asks them for a final wish to change back his name. His request threatens to tear apart his family (Patty Toy Chung, Angelina Cheng, Teddy Chen Culver), testing the limits of their love. He forces them to question who he really is and even their own identities. Meanwhile, his doctor (Mario Cortez) desperately tries to save him. We discover that the dying man is just one of countless “paper sons” who were born from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first federal law to restrict immigration to the U.S. based on race or nationality. Recently, the California legislature approved a landmark bill—ACR 42—on July 17, 2009 to apologize to the state’s Chinese American community for racist laws, including the Chinese Exclusion Act.

STATEMENT BY THE DIRECTOR:

“I always wanted to make a film about Chinese American history. One major event in our rich history is the Chinese Exclusion Act, which deeply affected many generations of our people. I explored this far-reaching event through its profound impact on a single family. Hopefully, by revealing the past, our film helps to prevent similar events from happening in the future.”—Ming Lai, Producer/Writer/Director, “Journey of a Paper Son”

Check their website here for upcoming screenings.

Journey of a Paper Son Trailer