Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1990)
Elaine Velazques and the Mien Filmmaker documents a dying culture B Y A N N D E E H OCHMAN 1 / laine Velazquez came to Portland from the Bronx, via Puerto Rico. The Northwest was this country’s adventurous fringe, and Portland was greener than anything, a regular hippie heaven. It was the early 1970s. Velazquez never went back. The Yiu M ien fam ily c f Ay Choy Saetee came to Portland from the mountains o f Laos, via another century. They came from a world with no cars, no Burger Kings, a world where the children worship their ancestors and spirits live in the rocks. Elaine Velazquez doesn’t speak Mien. Ay Choy and his relatives don’t speak English. For eight years, they have been talking to each other. Velazquez brought her curiosity, her cameras and microphones and interpreters and lights. Ay Choy and his fondly brought their trust and desire to keep the old life alive. The result is an hour-long documentary titled Moving Mountains, which won a blue ribbon in the San Francisco American Film and Video Festival, and opened at Cinema 21 last month. After eight years o f asking the questions, Velazquez fid g ets a bit on the other side o f the tape recorder. She talks fa st—a New Yorker still, after all these years—and worries that sh e's talking too fa st, saying too much or not enough o f the right things. W hat’s clear, from the film and from her thoughtful discussion, is that something crossed the gulf, bridged the gaps o f language and culture between herself and the Mien. Empathy. An urge to document, to save what would otherwise be lost. Something Elaine Velazquez and Ay Choy Saelee both could understand. “In 1981 and 1982,1 was a freelance producer for Front Street Weekly on Oregon Public Broadcasting. I interviewed some Hmong and some Yiu Mien people in Portland and did a ten-minute piece (on the Mien family). It was a subject that needed a lot more depth than that “I found the people very appealing. I was interested in the fact that these people are here and nobody knows who they are. They’re a very little-known tribe from the mountains of Laos. “These people are from a different century. The only people who could read and write were the shamans. They had no roads, no cars, no electricity. The war introduced them to the 20th century. The Mien were just drafted; it wasn’t like they had a choice. The Laos government was very prejudiced against the Mien, kind of like the way we are against people in the Appalachians. “In the film, I deal basically with these seven characters. It’s the family of Ay Choy Saelee, his wife Farm Yoon, his father Fou Choy, who’s a shaman, and his mom Lai Poo. Fou Choy and Lai Poo talk about the ancient culture. They are the spokespeople for the past “I also focused on this other family, on a bride who was getting married. One of the first things I shot was this big Mien wedding, three days, three nights. It was the first one that ever took place in America. I follow Fey Finh, the bride, and Low Choy, the man she married. Her brother is also in the piece. “They were very open and trusting. The people who are a little more western, like Ay Choy and Farm Yoon, were harder to get to know, in a way, because they had more o f our values. They were a little more self- protective. “When I filmed the wedding, the place was so crowded. Absolutely packed. I was totally surrounded by these people. And they were wonderful. They really appreciated it. I think they understood the importance of their culture being documented. Their culture is dying; there’s no way for it to survive in this country. “My last film, called Some o f These Days, was portraits of four older women. It was about their lives and what it’s like to age in our society. This (Mien film) was much more overwhelming. I re-translated every interview twice. I was very careful about that. I was afraid about how deep I could go without speaking the language. "The older woman, Lai Poo, is more positive about American culture than Foo Choy, the shaman. Women have something to gain in this culture. [Mien] is a very sexist society. The film deals with that a lot. A woman can’t eat at the same table with the family; she has to eat separately. She has to wait while the men eat. It’s just incredible. You try not to put your own values on that, but it’s not easy. “Now I kind of tease them. Like the last time I went to Fey Finh’s house, I said, ‘Are you going to sit down with me?* And she said, ‘No, I ’m not.’ And her brother will say, ‘Well, in my house we all sit together.’ So things are changing. “Mien worship their ancestors and they believe that you have to take care o f your ancestors here on earth; you have to feed them and give them money. And if you have good children who worship you, you do well in the third world. “So they believe when someone becomes Christian, the ancestors are just going to be lost. All these generations and generations of Mien are just going to be gone. “I tried to be as even-handed as I could. Even with Christianity. In the film, I tried to understand why these people would become Christian and just present it straight I feel like I ’ve done a careful job. “Fey Finh, the one who got married, is very Mien. She’s not like Farm Yoon, who loves rock-and-roll and is becoming really Western. I try to understand (Fey Finh), but I ’m not sure I really can, because she’s really deeply Mien. She doesn’t mind that she can’t eat at the same table; she accepts these things. She’s a good Mien woman; these are her values. SANDRA K. PINCHES, Ph.D. C ounseling and Psychotherapy Specializing in issues of: • Recovering Alcoholics • Co-dependency 1809 N.W. Johnson, Ste. 7 Portland, O R 97209 (503)227 7558 • Lesbian & gay couples • Intimacy & commitment Enjoy X-C skiing and hiking on 440 acres of meadows and for est. Private suite in old country farmhouse quiet and restful, hot tub Visit Ashland theatres, restaurants, galleries. Brochure available. A W ILD E R N E S S BE D & BREA KFA ST 658 Shale City Road Ashland, OR 97520 503-776-1728 LO O K IN G FO R F U N S TU F F ? LO O K IN G FO R A G REA T G IFT? "They love the film; they really appreciate the film. They want it for their children. Their children are losing the whole sense of who they are. This film captures a lot of the transitions when they came here, the things that were going on that are rapidly no longer taking place. “I’ve thought about doing a dramatic piece about gay women. But I haven’t done a dramatic piece before. I thought I ’d just start out with scriptwriting and see how that goes. I don’t know. It’s taken so much to get this done. And I do want to see it distributed well. So at least for a while, that’s what I ’m going to be doing. “I’m a visual artist I was painting and drawing for years and years. Later I was working for a place that did videos. I discovered I had this real ability with cutting (film) that became obvious with the first piece I did. I like to put things out into the world. A painting is not going to get into the world in the same way. “I think what affects the way I see things (as a filmmaker) is my really caring deeply. I’m a Scorpio; I like a lot o f intensity and a lot of depth, and that’s what I look for in people. I like to know what really goes on for people. I think that’s what draws me. “I like the fact that film does have such power. And I believe that on some level it can change things. It’s not an activist thing where you see a film and go out in the street and change the world. But my film Some o f These Days moved people deeply and made them think about what it was like for them to age, or for people close to them. “While I was doing this film, I wasn't really sure I could do it well because it was such a large undertaking. But I feel like it does succeed. You can get inside these people and understand what their lives are like and think about things through their values and their world. I ’m very happy that’s the way it came o u t” ▼ Advertising in just: out w orks. . . “We get a better rate of reponse from ju s t o u t than any other paper in Portland, and we’ve tried them all.” Guy Swanson Photographic Image Gallery Cards Sunglasses T-shirts Retro Goodies and More Now open in downtown Portland YO ! VINNIE 721 SW 10TH • 228-4800 / V- ’ r* f » Oregon Country Fair A unique environment featuring a wide variety of entertainment, astounding international vaudeville, quality crafts, delicious food and an exceptional spirit of community JULY 13, 14 & 15 11 am - 7 pm $6 Friday, $8 Saturday, $7 Sunday 12 + under free, alter-abled & 55 or better 1/2 price Near Veneta, 13 miles west of Eugene. No dogs, public camping, video cameras TAKE THE BUS! From the Lane County Fairgrounds, 796 West 13th, Eugene
