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Boardman native’s film captures trials, joy of Chinese girl’s adoption
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
In a remarkable segment early in Stephanie Wang-Breal’s documentary “Wo Ai Ni [I Love You] Mommy,” an 8-year-old Chinese girl meets the American woman who is going to adopt her.
Wang-Breal, who is a Boardman native, simply lets her camera run as little Fang Sui Yong and Donna Sadowsky see each other for the first time.
The youngster knows her fate. She will be leaving her homeland and her foster parents — the only family she’s ever known — for a new country and a new culture.
At first she is scared and withdrawn, then petulant. But soon enough, she warms up and learns to embrace her new mother. The moving scene reveals what’s in their hearts and minds, without a word of narration.
Later in the film, after 17 months have elapsed, little Sui Yong — now named Faith Sui Yong Sadowsky — is a completely changed person, effervescent and totally comfortable in her new home in Long Island, N.Y.
It’s an amazing contrast to the first meeting and speaks volumes about the resiliency of a child, the value of adoption and the power of a family’s love.
Wang-Breal captures it all without attempting to shape what’s happening for the viewer. It’s a style of documentary making that she believes is best.
“I just saw it happening and let it go,” the filmmaker told The Vindicator in a phone interview. “It’s a fly- on-the-wall documentary, which is the most interesting way to let people know. If there is narration, it feels too much just set up, like they’re trying to make you think a certain way.”
“Wo Ai Ni [I Love You] Mommy” will make its television debut this week on PBS, part of the network’s P.O.V. series.
Although it is Wang-Breal’s feature debut, it has already won several awards, including Best U.S. Feature at the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. The film has also been accepted by about a dozen film festivals.
Wang-Breal has empathy for her subjects. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she grew up in Boardman, and of the 450 members in her class at Boardman High, she was the only Chinese. The sense of being physically and culturally different from everyone around her is something she knows well, and it helps explain her interest in making the film.
“My best friend was teaching Chinese to adopted girls at the China Institute [in New York],” said Wang-Breal. “After hearing her talk about these amazing girls, I began to wonder what it was like for them to grow up Chinese in America. I realized I wanted to make a documentary that provided insight into the child’s experience, because that was a perspective that was notably absent.”
Adoption of Chinese children has exploded since China opened its doors to foreign adoption in 1992. About 70,000 Chinese children have been brought to the United States, making China the top choice for international adoptions by Americans.
But “Wo Ai Ni Mommy” doesn’t ignore the other half of the adoption equation: the parents.
Donna Sadowsky, Faith’s new mother, is at the center of a household (which includes her husband and three children) that is eager and well-prepared to absorb a transnational child. She and her husband had already adopted a Chinese girl several years before.
Donna overflows with affection and understanding, but is also very aware of the need for Faith to quickly learn English. She shows tough love with Faith before the pair even leave China, forcing her to buckle down and learn basic English with flash cards. Wang-Breal herself served as translator during the week and a half the Sadowskys spent in China when they first met Faith.
“Donna felt there were moments when she came off as [mean],” said Wang-Breal. “But after seeing the film, she also said, ‘This is it, you caught it, this is our family, the way we really are.’”
Wang-Breal moved to New York in 1999, lived in France for four years, and then moved back to New York to pursue making documentaries. She has worked for MTV, CNN and Discovery. She said DVDs of “Wo Ai Ni Mommy” will soon be available to educators and cultural organizations. Go to woainimommy.com for more information.