Julie Tam moderates “Mao’s Last Dancer” film Q&A

At the Texas premiere of the movie Mao’s Last Dancer at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas at Magnolia Theatre in West Village, Julie Tam moderated the Q&A session afterward with two men portrayed in the film: former Houston Ballet artistic director Ben Stevenson and famed immigration attorney Charles Foster of Houston’s FosterQuan law firm. The film — from the director of Driving Miss Daisy and the producer of Shine, and starring Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Amanda Schull and Chi Cao — opens on August 20, 2010 in select theaters nationwide.

Julie is personally connected to this film. Julie danced at Houston Ballet Academy while Stevenson was artistic director and Li Cunxin (the film’s main character) was principal dancer. She knew them both.

In another connection Julie has to the film: When Communist Chairman Mao Zedong took over in China, Julie’s late maternal grandfather, Lieh Fu Chen, fled the country with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai Shek (to whom her grandfather was an adviser).