Round Eyes In the Middle Kingdom
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Ronald Levaco
Israel Epstein
Sidney Rittenberg
Jose Araujo
Todd Boekelheide
Jennifer Chinlund
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Interweaving snapshots and home-movie footage of his own childhood in his birthplace, Tianjin, San Francisco-based helmer, Ronald Levaco, takes an uncompromising look at events which shaped his cultural identity--as a Western kid, who enjoyed a comfy colonial childhood during the '40s, while the average Chinese starved and suffered. Levaco, who was born in Tianjin in 1940, and spent the first 10 years of his life there before his Russian-born parents immigrated to the U.S., was driven to find out what happened to the other Caucasians who remained in China when the Communists took over in 1949. Levaco articulates his feelings about China through focusing on the story of a Polish Jew, Israel Epstein, who was a close friend of his father during the 1940s and who remained in the People's Republic with his Chinese wife and two adopted children--even taking out Chinese citizenship; Epstein, who'd been there since age 2, identifies with the country, its people, and the Communists' reasons for change.
Director
Ronald Levaco
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1995
Released in United States January 1997
Released in United States November 1995
Released in United States October 1996
Shown at Film Arts Festival in San Francisco November 1-5 & 10, 1995.
Shown at Hawaii International Film Festival November 3-17, 1995.
Released in United States November 1995 (Shown at Film Arts Festival in San Francisco November 1-5 & 10, 1995.)
Released in United States November 1995 (Shown at Hawaii International Film Festival November 3-17, 1995.)
Shown at Slamdance International Film Festival in Park City Utah January 17-23, 1997.
Released in United States 1995
Released in United States January 1997 (Shown at Slamdance International Film Festival in Park City Utah January 17-23, 1997.)
Released in United States October 1996 (Shown at AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (United States) October 18-31, 1996.)
