Tong, Nancy M. (湯美如)

Critical Biography Filmography Reviews Links Bibliography

Tong, Nancy M. – Critical Biography Top

Nancy M. Tong has been making documentary films since 1977. Upon graduating with honours from Canada’s York University, she returned to Hong Kong and worked as a documentary producer for television. In 1981 she arrived in New York City and became an active member of the Asian American film community. She held key positions on documentaries broadcasted on American television networks such as ABC, PBS, and HBO. Her credits include Associate Producer of the Academy Award nominated documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1989), Co-Producer of the Peabody Award winner Cancer: from Evolution to Revolution, Director of In the Name of the Emperor (1998) which was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and Producer and Director of Trailblazers in Habits (2013) which was aired on ABC network in November 2014. She also managed the New York production of award-winning Hong Kong feature films such as Mabel Cheung’s An Autumn’s Tale (1986), and Clara Law’s Farewell China (1990). Some of her work is on permanent exhibition at New York’s Museum of Chinese in America (MoCA). She is the writer and editor of 《1937: 南京》published in 1995. Since 2000, Tong has been teaching documentary film production at City University of Hong Kong and University of Hong Kong. She also conducted documentary film master classes in Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia. She is currently consultant and advisor to a new generation of documentary filmmakers in Hong Kong. She can be reached at nancym.tong@gmail.com.

Filmography Top

Feature Films:

Role	Title (English)	Title (Chinese)	Year
Director Producer	Trailblazers in Habits	N/A	2013
Co-producer	Cancer: from Evolution to Revolution	N/A	2001
Director Producer Writer	In the Name of the Emperor	奉天皇之名	1998
Unit Manager (New York)	The Chinese Box	N/A	1996
Line Producer	Voices from New York	N/A	1995
Line Producer	The Americanized Wife	美國太太	1991
Line Producer	Farewell, China	愛在別鄉的季節	1990
Associate Producer	Who Killed Vincent Chin?	誰謀殺了陳果仁？	1989
Line Producer	Full Moon in New York	人在紐約	1988
Production Manager	An Autumn’s Tale	秋天的童話	1986

Documentary Films for PBS:

Role	Title (English)	Title (Chinese)	Year
Line Producer	Porgy and Bess: An American Voice.	N/A	2013
Production Manager	Ancestors in America.	N/A	1996
Associate Producer	Childhood (7 part series)	N/A	1990

Reviews Top

Trailblazers in Habits (2013):

National Catholic Reporter – ‘Trailblazers in Habits’ documents great women doing great things

SCMP
– Film pays tribute to city’s big sisters
– Documentary on the Maryknoll nuns sets its director on new path

In the Name of the Emperor (1998):

The New York Times – FILM REVIEW;Horrors Committed by the Japanese

Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987):

Los Angles Times – MOVIE REVIEW : Rhetorical Question: ‘Who Killed Vincent Chin?’ : Thought-provoking documentary leaves conclusions to viewers at UCI’s Asian/Pacific Film and Video Festival.

The New York Times – Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1988)

Links Top

Facebook page of Trailblazers in Habits

Hong Kong Movie Database – Nancy Tong Mei-Yue

IMDB – Nancy Tong

Journalism and Media Studies Centre – The University of Hong Kong – NANCY TONG

Official website of Trailblazers in Habits

Bibliography Top

Canby, Vincent. “Fiction Fuels the Documentary.” The New York Times 27 March 1988, sec. Arts and Leisure. Print.
Chang, Robert S. “Dreaming in Black and White: Racial-Sexual Policing in the Birth of a Nation, the Cheat and Who Killed Vincent Chin?” Disoriented Asian Americans, Law, and the Nation-State. New York: New York: New York University Press, 1999. 11-26. Print.
Fishbein, Leslie. “Who Killed Vincent Chin.” American Historical Review 95.4 (1990): 1147-50. Print.
Goldman, Debra. “Who Killed Vincent Chin? (Documentary Film by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima).” American Film 13.7 (May 1988): 8. Print.
Hanawa, Yukiko, and Linda Hoaglund. “Interview with Christine Choy and Nancy Tong, Filmmakers (in the Name of the Emperor).” positions: east asia cultures critique 5.3 (1997): 811. Print.
Kaplan, David A. “Film About a Fatal Beating Examines a Community.” The New York Times 16 July 1989: H27. Print.
Leab, Daniel J. “‘In the Name of the Emperor’: War Guilt and the Medium of Film.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 15.3 (1995): 435-37. Print.
Mackinnon, Stephen. “Remembering the Nanjing Massacre: In the Name of the Emperor.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 15.3 (1995): 431-33. Print.