In the hands of the Auntie Sewing Squad, hoarded film festival lanyards become a way to fight coronavirus.

Filmmaker Valerie Soe’s statement: “Sewing masks gives me a focus and purpose that counters the frustration, anger and anxiety of witnessing the Trump administration’s criminal mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis. It’s a way for me to push back against Trump’s cynical manipulation of the situation and to help out communities that are being ignored or abandoned by the government’s shoddy response. I reject the idea that humans are expendable cogs in capitalism’s machine. We all deserve a chance to live and to be healthy. This is my way of ensuring that more of us have that chance.”

Director Biography - Valerie Soe

Since 1986 Valerie Soe’s experimental videos, installations, and documentary films have won dozens of awards, grants, and commissions, and have exhibited worldwide at venues such as the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles the Museum of Modern Art, and the New Museum in New York City. She has published extensively in books and journals including Countervisions: Asian American Film Criticism; Asian Cinema, and Amerasia Journal, among many others. Soe is the author of the blog beyondasiaphilia.com. Her latest film is LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN.