Friday Kanopy Movie Pick: Golden Gate Girls

You can watch movies via Kanopy at any time. To watch Golden Gate Girls now, click here, then sign into your account.

If you do not have a Kanopy account, you can create one. Click here for instructions.

In honor of Asian Pacific Heritage Month, our Friday Kanopy movie pick features Golden Gate Girls, a documentary about Esther Eng, the first woman to direct Chinese-language films in America.

Esther Eng was born in San Francisco on September 24, 1914. At the age of 19, Eng became a producer in her father’s film production company. After the success of the film National Heroine (1937), which Eng directed in Hong Kong, she decided to remain there to direct her next two films: Ten Thousand Lovers & Storm of Envy.

In 1939, Eng returned to San Francisco to make four more films. She co-wrote and directed It’s a Women’s World, which featured an all-female cast showcasing thirty-six women in different professions. After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, many Cantonese opera and film actors had returned to China, leaving Eng with little talent to work with. In 1950, she stopped making films to pursue a career as a restaurateur. She went on to open five restaurants throughout Manhattan.

Esther Eng is considered a pioneer in Chinese-language film making. She broke gender, racial, and cultural boundaries, in a time when Hollywood was dominated by male directors and anti-Chinese sentiment was strong throughout the United States. When she died in January 1970, her obituary appeared in Variety and the New York Times, fondly remembering her as a hub of Chinese film culture in the U.S.

To learn more about Asian Pacific Heritage Month click here

How to use Kanopy

Kanopy is a streaming service that is free to use with your WPL card. Your account has 4 watch credits per month. If you do not use your credits, they do not roll over to the next month. You will see a "play credit tracker" at the top right of your library's Kanopy platform to alert you of how many play credits you have remaining for the month.

To use a play credit, you must press play on a video and have the video play for at least 5 seconds. Once a play credit is logged, you will have a full 3 days (72 hours) to watch the video as many times as you would like without using another play credit, even if a new month starts and your credits reset. Your Viewing History will show any video that is still available to view in your 3 day window. After the 3 day window has expired, another play credit will be used if you press play on the video again.

Kanopy is currently offering credit-free viewing for select films. If you watch any of the movies on this list, you will not be using your credits. Once you log into your account, click the “credit free viewing" link on the top.