25 West 43rd Street, Room 1000
between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan
Since America’s inception, immigrants have shown their gratitude to this country through military service. We Are American Soldiers is a short documentary film capturing the stories of Chinese Americans who served this country during World War II, only to return home to face discrimination. We Are American Soldiers tells one man’s story of immigrating to America, being drafted for the war, and serving with the 407th Air Service Squadron – an all Chinese American unit, of the 14th Air Services Group in the China, Burma, India (CBI) theater. As with many soldiers, the friendships he made during the war played an important role throughout his life.
Filmmakers Katie May Porter and Gregg Porter will discuss their process of documenting these oral histories, share their research and process of gathering information about this seldom written chapter in U.S. history, including the challenge of finding photos and footage featuring Chinese American soldiers from this era. This presentation will include a screening of We Are American Soldiers (Running Time: 36 minutes), followed by a Q&A session.
Katie May Porter is an actor, filmmaker, engineer, and a native New Yorker. She has a degree from MIT in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Theater Arts – and has long since been balancing both her left-brain engineering and right-brain creative worlds. As a second-generation Chinese American, she finds a wonderful complexity in the American experience as lived by her family and friends. Her short documentary, We Are American Soldiers, is a love letter to her grandparents, parents, family and extended family, and all the immigrants who served and sacrificed for others. IG and Twitter: @ActressEngineer
Gregg Porter served as a combat cameraman in the U.S. Army from 1987 to 1991, producing training and documentary products and continued serving as a civilian producer/director, camera operator and manager for the U.S. Army, Department of Justice, and Department of Defense for 24 more years. During his long career Gregg produced numerous documentaries including, “Victory Corps,” a historical retrospective of the U.S. Army’s V Corps’ 75-year history. The film was broadcast in Europe on American Forces Network television, and won the Army’s Keith L. Ware Award for Special Television Program. Gregg continues to support service members and veterans managing Service to the Armed Forces programs for the American Red Cross of Greater New York.
