Tag Archives: every day is a holiday

Celebrate Father’s Day with a Social Screening

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This Father’s Day, join filmmaker Theresa Loong for a social screening of her documentary Every Day is a Holiday. The filmmaker will be fielding questions about the doc with her father Paul Loong, profiled in the film, on Sunday, June 17 at 12p PT / 3p ET right here.

In Every Day Is a Holiday, Chinese-American filmmaker Theresa Loong creates an intimate portrait of her father, a man fifty years her senior. In this documentary, she explore the bonds of the father-daughter relationship and place themes of growing older, immigration and racism in the context of “living history.” Paul Loong talks of his experiences as a POW in Japan and his subsequent quest to become an American.

Every Day Is a Holiday Celebrates Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

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By Kate Sullivan Green
ITVS Broadcast & Distribution Manager

ITVS’s Kate Sullivan Green sits down with Theresa Loong to talk about the documentary Every Day Is a Holiday, which begins airing on Public Television May 1st.  

Filmmaker Theresa Loong

After finding her father’s secret diary from the time he was a P.O.W., Theresa Loong knew she had a story to tell.  In Every Day Is a Holiday, she documents her father’s path from being a Chinese Malaysian teenager serving in the British Royal Air Force, to being held as a P.O.W. in Japan during World War II, and his long, complicated path to U.S. citizenship that followed.

Kate Sullivan Green had the opportunity to sit down with Theresa and talk about making her first film, the ups and downs of documenting a family member, and what she learned about the challenges so many Chinese faced immigrating to America.

What stood out to you about your dad while making Every Day Is a Holiday?

His fierce, fierce, fierce determination.  I always had a sense he had a really interesting life, but one of the things I’ve taken away is how much struggle he went through to become a citizen.  That gives me more appreciation for him and for people in general who go through hardship.  I consider myself an empathetic person, but this really puts things in perspective when I am feeling down.  I have a deep respect for what he went through.

One other thing is that I didn’t realize how difficult it would be for him to relive the past.  I guess I thought he was ready to share his story, but there were times when he would say, “Oh, that’s enough” or get up and walk away.  Sometimes it was just because he was tired, but other times I’d see his eyes go to a far away place as he was actually reliving the moment.  Especially with first person narrative, we have to balance wanting to know history with sensitivity. Continue reading →

Newly Contracted: ITVS Announces Funding for Every Day is a Holiday

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Filmmaker Theresa Loong’s documentary focuses on the secret diary of her father — a war veteran and P.O.W. — and his long, complicated path to U.S. citizenship.

Growing up, filmmaker Theresa Loong knew that her father, Paul Loong, was older than most of her friends’ parents. Father and daughter are almost 50 years apart in age.  Throughout her youth and young adulthood, Theresa recalls a cheerful father who loved to laugh and play pranks on his kids. But underneath all that laughter, he would show occasional flashes of anger and sadness.

One day, young Theresa asked him innocently about a curious scar on his back. “Everyone has secrets,” he would say.
Continue reading →