Friday September 25, 7pmEST filmmaker discussion, 8pmEST film screening

Film critic Thelma Adams describes “Every Day Is a Holiday” as a film “about an ordinary man who survived extraordinary circumstances with his heart intact. Parents and daughters also interact in Michael Woolridge’s taut, suspenseful short “Options,” about a young woman in the family business who discovers that not everything is kosher in the legacy she inherited from her father. In Flo Young’s 1970s set coming-of-age drama “Kool,” the filmmaker mines familiar territory to unearth strong relationships between teen Olive and her sexually active high school bestie, as well as her divorce-traumatized mother. In all three films, the filmmakers’ deep empathy for their subjects’ drama, dramedy, and documentary shines through.

Eventbrite
$free, donations accepted

7pm join us on Instagram live @filmshop_us https://www.instagram.com/filmshop_us/channel/

8pm reserve tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/filmshop-exhibition-curated-by-thelma-adams-tickets-118232997077

Thursday June 6, at 6:30pm at the Secaucus Public Library in Secaucus, NJ. – In remembrance of D-Day and World War II, Every Day is a Holiday, will screen for free, followed by a Q&A session. Theresa will discuss the process of gathering stories. We will also take a musical step back in time with Cassandra Elyse, as she sing hits from the 1940’s, sure to make your toes tap. Councilman William McKeever will speak on ‘Hudson County: At Home and At War,” discussing the connection between those events and New Jersey/local history at that time.

Free Screening of Every Day Is a Holiday
Secaucus Public Library
1379 Paterson Plank Rd., Secaucus, NJ
Thursday June 6, at 6:30pm

http://www.libraryinsight.net/eventdetails.asp?jx=n3p&lmx=%C9ea%22%A9%AC&v=3

by Joseph Loong

(Part of a series of posts that will culminate on Father’s Day, highlighting why our dad, Paul Loong, is the Most Interesting Dad in the World.)

An iconic photo of the D-Day landings. US Govt photo.

Many people during World War II found out about the D-Day invasion that same day, June 6, 1944. For my Dad, it took a little longer, with a lot more risk. Here’s how it happened:

A few days after the Allies landed at Normandy, the POWs at Mitsushima, Japan were walking back to the prison camp, under guard, from the hydroelectric facility where they were being forced to work under harsh conditions.

One of the prisoners found a scrap of Japanese newspaper, featuring a story with a map of the European coast. Risking beheading if caught, he hid the newspaper and smuggled it back into the camp.

There, another prisoner who could read Chinese figured out from the characters (the Japanese written language uses Chinese characters) that the story was about the successful Normandy invasion.

According to Dad, while Japanese reporting of the Pacific War told of nothing except continuous Japanese victories, their coverage of the European theater of war was more truthful.

The newspaper was quickly destroyed to prevent the Japanese guards from discovering it, but Dad says the news “spread like wildfire” among the prisoners, who were starved of both food and information.

Much like the newspaper article, the June 1944 entries from my dad’s secret wartime diary didn’t survive to our time, but he remembers the story clearly, which gave all the prisoners a measure of hope that the Allies were winning the war.

And that’s how he learned about the successful D-Day invasion.

I attended an art opening of “Drill Baby Drill” at gowanusedge.com on Thursday for Dan Ford and other artists in a group show.  One of the other artists was named Emily Auchincloss. I wasn’t going to ask her, but then decided, why not? It turns out that Emily is the great-granddaughter of Congressman Auchincloss, the man who sponsored a bill so that my dad could become a U.S. citizen. She had no idea her great-grandfather would do something like that.

It really is a small world. Many thanks to Christine Chen, who introduced me to Jocelyn Ford, who introduced me to Dan, and that’s how I met Emily. I was just working on an extended trailer that talks about Congressman Auchincloss.