Documentary | DVD | Closed Captioning
Director: Terri DeBono
Producer: Steve Rosen
Ethnicity: Chinese
Subjects: Art & Performance, New Immigrants and Refugees (Past & Present), Personal Stories, Women
Grade Levels: Grades 6 & Up
MY NAME IS BELLE presents an autobiographical snapshot of the immigrant experience through the eyes of a 7-year-old child. Belle Yang, artist and writer, uses herself as the model for the fictional pig-tailed girl named Hannah who arrives from Taiwan. Belle, as Hannah, faces change and loneliness – the difficulty of learning a new language, a new culture, even a new name, and of living with tension while waiting for green cards, longing to be citizens.
Using vignettes straddling time…dipping into Belle’s past and present, the documentary capitalizes upon Belle’s distinctive vision of storytelling and paintings to tell stories. This documentary taps into the hopes and fears all immigrants must experience when they try to grab hold of the American dream.