Wo Ai Ni Mommy made it television premiere this week on PBS. It’s a fascinating documentary about adoption told through the eyes of a child. What is it like to be torn from your Chinese foster family, put on a plane with strangers and wake up in a new country, family and culture? Stephanie Wang-Breal’s Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy is the story of Fang Sui Yong, an 8-year-old orphan, and the Sadowskys, the Long Island Jewish family that travels to China to adopt her. Sui Yong is one of 70,000 Chinese children now being raised in the United States. Through her eyes, we witness her struggle with a new identity as she transforms from a timid child into someone that no one — neither her new family nor she — could have imagined. What is unusual here, however, is that viewers witness Sui Yong’s first encounters with her new parents and her sometimes unsettling shift from being Chinese to identifying herself as an American. This film is an honest and intimate portrait of loss and gain. As an outreach tool, it raises important questions about cultural preservation, transracial and international adoption, parenting, family and what it means to be an American, what it means to be Chinese and what it means to be white.

Check your local listings for air times. If it’s not available in your area, you can watch Wo Ai Ni Mommy streamed online through November 30, 2010. Watch here. After watching the film, read the discussion guide to share the insights you got from the film.

Wo Ai Ni Mommy Trailer

Wo Ai Ni Mommy director Stephanie Wang Breal Interview

Donna Sadowsky interview