
Esther Eng
Personal Info
Known for
Directing
Gender
Female
Birthday
1914-09-24
Day of Death
1970-01-25 (55 years old)
Place of Birth
San Francisco, California, USA
Esther Eng
Biography
Esther Eng (September 24, 1914 – January 25, 1970) was an American director and producer; known to be the first woman to have directed Chinese-language films in the United States, as well as South China's first woman director. As an openly lesbian woman, Esther Eng provided social commentary with a focus on the female protagonists in her works. Many of the films she has directed and produced are considered to be lost except for Golden Gate Girl (1941) and Murder in New York Chinatown (1961).
First shown in the 37th Hong Kong International Film Festival, the film Golden Gate Girls (2013, dir. S. Louisa Wei) with its title borrowed from one of Esther Eng's works, is a documentary film dedicated to her legacy as a filmmaker and her life.
Known For
Acting
(2013)
Golden Gate Girls
as Herself (archive footage)
Crew
(1961)
Murder Case in Chinatown
Director
(1949)
Mad Fire, Mad Love
Director
(1948)
Back Street
Director, Screenplay
(1947)
The Lady in the Blue Lagoon
Director
(1941)
Golden Gate Girl
Director
(1939)
It's a Women's World
Writer, Director
(1938)
Tragic Love
Director, Screenplay
(1938)
Ten Thousand Lovers
Director
(1938)
(1937)
National Heroine
Director
(1936)
Heartaches
Producer