Director John Woo told ‘Variety’ at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal that he is developing a historical drama film focusing on Mar Dean Lung, a Chinese American worker who donated money to promote the spread of Chinese culture in America a century ago.
The film is described by John Woo as “a serious but not too serious drama, a very human story.”
Nowadays, there are so many misunderstandings between people in the West and the East, and I think we have to explore this topic more and work on mutual understanding,” he said. I want to make a film that can serve as a bridge across two different cultures. We can be friends – I really believe in that.”
Mar Dean Lung, a Chinese worker who was sold to the United States more than a hundred years ago, used his years of savings to donate to Columbia University to establish the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures in the hope of developing the study of Sinology in the United States so that Americans can learn more about Chinese culture.
In 1901, Mar Dean Lung sent a letter and a check for $12,000 to Seth Low, the president of Columbia University, saying, “Donate to your university as a fund for the study of Chinese.
Additional donations were made by Mar Dean Lung’s employer, Horace Walpole Carpentier, Oakland’s first mayor.
The film is currently writing the script and seeking funding, John Woo said he hopes he can make it before he retires, “I really want to make this movie.
