Sacramento Film and Music Festival 2008

Committed to creating a bridge between the Asian community and police, 20-year-old college student Agnes Chan, daughter of a Chinatown seamstress, became NYPD's first Asian woman officer in 1980. Rookie Officer Christine Leung was insulted by a middle-aged Caucasian woman: 'I'm paying taxes for a little shit like you!' Trish Ormsby worked for a Japanese Wall Street firm and served tea to her male bosses until quitting in disgust and becoming a cop. Filmmaker Ermena Vinluan, intrigued by the image of Asian women in non-traditional careers, explores her activist ideas about cops while honoring the challenges these women embraced and the changes they accomplished. The documentary also includes interviews with ordinary New Yorkers, police experts and anti-police abuse activists – some of whom believe that reducing police abuses will require hiring more women officers. The film’s humorous cartoons, lively motion graphics and original music enhance the three women’s stories and its complex look at race, gender and power.