'TYRUS' Kicks Off Roswell's Southern Circuit Film Tour

ROSWELL, GA -- Next month, Roswell's Cultural Services will host a screening of a film documenting how a Chinese-American artist overcame racism and poverty to become a celebrated painter.

"TYRUS" will be shown as part of the South Arts Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.

Following a screening of the film, director and producer Pamela Tom will engage the audience in a discussion about the film and her work. Tickets are available for $10 from the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.

"TYRUS" is a feature-length documentary film that tells the story of 105-year-old Chinese-American artist Tyrus Wong, and how he overcame institutional barriers to become a well-respected artist, innovative kite designer, Hollywood sketch artist for films such as "Rebel Without a Cause" and "How the West Was Won" and 'Disney Legend' for his groundbreaking work on the classic animated film, "Bambi."

Tom is a writer, director and producer whose work includes documentary and narrative film and television. She has taught documentary filmmaking at ULCA and Loyola Marymount University, and is the recipient of multiple awards including the Walt Disney Writing Fellowship and the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award for outstanding female filmmakers.

Tom first learned about Wong while watching the “making of” documentary on Bambi in 1997.

“I was intrigued by the idea of a Chinese American artist working at Disney in the 1930s,” wondered Tom. “How was this possible? Weren’t most Chinese immigrants toiling away as laundrymen, houseboys, or waiters?”

Over the course of nearly twenty years, Tom learned that Tyrus’ legendary work on Disney films barely scratched the surface of this groundbreaking and immensely talented artist.

“Tyrus was one of the very first Chinese Americans to make a living in the world of art and film, which was especially notable in an era when minorities were virtually shut out of Hollywood,” continued Tom.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The screenings are presented at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center with support from the Friends of the Roswell Parks.

South Arts, founded in 1975, is a nonprofit regional arts organization building on the South's unique heritage and enhancing the public value of the arts. Their work responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective, through an annual portfolio of activities designed to address the role of the arts in impacting the issues important to our region, and linking the South with the nation and the world through the arts.

Image via city of Roswell