Professor Zhang's Film Examines a Shifting China

HALF MOON BAY REVIEW -- Beijing’s traditional city structure, including alleyways that form “hutongs,” have been called the heart and soul of the city, even as they fall to modernization. These walkways are the subject of the 77-minute “Missing Home (The Last Days of Beijing Hutongs)” to be screened at 7:30 p.m. Friday by the Coastside Film Society. Award-winning filmmaker Weimin Zhang grew up in a hutong home before she earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Beijing Film Academy and Ohio University film school. Now she serves as associate professor and documentary adviser at the San Francisco State University film school. She will attend the Coastside Film Society’s Friday, August 1, screening to talk about her hutong home and her film, and also to answer viewers' questions.