Red Doors
| Red Doors | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Georgia Lee |
| Produced by | Georgia Lee Mia Riverton Jane Chen |
| Written by | Georgia Lee |
| Starring |
Tzi Ma Jacqueline Kim Elaine Kao Kathy Shao-Lin Lee Freda Foh Shen Mia Riverton |
| Distributed by |
Warner Brothers Polychrome Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Red Doors is a 2005 American independent film written and directed by Georgia Lee. Inspired by the director's own family, the film tells the coming of age story of a Chinese American family. Red Doors is Lee’s first feature film. Early drafts won the Jerome Foundation New York Media Arts Grant Award, and later won the best narrative feature prize at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. Georgia Lee produced the movie alongside Jane Chen and Mia Riverton and co-producor John Fiorelli.
Red Doors tells the story of the Wongs, a Chinese-American family in the New York City suburbs. While the title of the film refers to the red door of the Wong's house in New York, red doors are said to bring good luck. Throughout the film, the red door is a sign for luck for the many struggles the Wongs must face.
After retiring, Ed Wong (Tzi Ma) plans to escape from his life in the suburbs, yet his daughters have other plans.
Samantha (Jacqueline Kim) is the eldest daughter of the Wongs. She is a businesswoman in New York and engaged to Mark (Jayce Bartok). When facing her thirtieth birthday, Samantha runs into Alex (Rossif Sutherland) which forces her to reevaluate her career and love life.
Julie (Elaine Kao) is the shy middle sister of the Wongs. She is a fourth-year medical student who enjoys ballroom classes. Always quiet and center of the family, Julies begins to question her life choices as she meets Mia Scarlett (Mia Riverton).
Katie (Kathy Shao-Lin Lee) is the youngest Wong sister. In her senior year of High School Katie is involved in a prank war with Simon (Sebastian Stan). As the movie continues the pranks escalate between the neighbors and longtime nemesis.
Before disappearing, Ed decides to relive his family's history through VHS footage. Between the happier past and cold reality, Ed feels it is best to leave home. While the Wongs each face their own struggles, the family learns to communicate again through the stories and images of the past.
Lee, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native and oldest of three sisters, wrote and produced her first full-length film in 2005. Although Red Doors was Lee's first full length feature film, her first short film was called The Big Dish which was produced while taking film classes at NYU. Lee states that the film Red Doors benefits from different aspects shown in all of the short films she has produced. The film was produced independently by Georgia Lee because Hollywood producers wanted to make the Wongs a Caucasian family for commercial purposes. In order to produce the film independent of ordinary Hollywood productions, Lee formed Blanc de Chine, a production company that she would further run herself and with the help of college friends. When asked why the film is important to her, Lee states that the story started as her own, yet while creating the script she was more interested in the backstory and how to capture a unique period of time in a family's dynamic. Lee further states that she was interested in correcting some of the typical stereotypes of Asian Americans usually portrayed in film. Also, in order to incorporate a mix of fact vs. fiction, the homevideos that can been seen in the film are actual homevideos shot by Lee's father as she was growing up. The videos were inserted due to the minimal budget the film had to work with, and the lack of funds needed to re-film such scenes.
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