Film Image
Excuse My Gangsta Ways
Corinne E. Manabat
Producer: Corinne E. Manabat & Third World Newsreel Workshop
2008
Color
15 minutes
US
English/Cantonese
English subtitles
Press Packet
Study Guide

Excuse My Gangsta Ways

We all go through transitions in life, whether it's a career change, or moving, but for Davina Wan, hers has been very extreme - from the gang life to a "normal" life. Excuse My Gangsta Ways is a visual poetic documentary portrait on Davina Wan, a Chinese American woman, who was a former gang member from the 1990s Lower East Side. With interviews from her grandmother and godfather, we will take a look at the person she was and the person she has become, where fate and inspiration endure. A TWN Workshop production and part of the Call for Change Series.
Pricing & Ordering
Buyer Type Format Sale Type Price
Higher Education Institutions DVD Sale $60.00
Higher Education Institutions Life Digital File License $120.00
K-12, Public Libraries & Select Groups DVD Sale $25.00
Non-Theatrical/Educational DVD Rental $60.00
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Reviews
From child immigrant to urban gangster, Davina Wan's adolescence resembles few others. This intimate portrait reveals her quest to turn her life around. - San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
An extraordinary look at Davina Wan’s intense and troubled youth of drugs, crime and family dysfunction, and her eventual transformation. There’s a lot of pain in this incredible young woman’s world, and the whole audience was moved by her journey. - Ravi Chandra, SFIAAFF Blog
One of the best short films I've seen in a while, because it tells a surprising story about Davina Wan and her past life. Definitely worth watching. - Hyphen Magazine Blog
"Instructors examining girls' violence in a contemporary U.S. context may consider screening the short documentary Excuse My Gangsta Ways. The film tells the story of a young Chinese-American woman, Davina Wan, who grew up in the Lower East Side in New York City in the 1990s. Her mother worked twelve hours a day, and her father lived and worked in New Jersey, only coming home on weekends. Davina basically raised herself, and when her family fractured through divorce, her broken heart led her to the streets. Hers is a familiar contemporary story of girlhood across the globe in disenfranchised urban settings. " - Laurie Schaffner, Films for the Feminist Classroom Journal
Screenings
• African American Women in Cinema Film Festival, New York, 2008
• Documentary Fortnight, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2009
• San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, 2009
• Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, 2009
More Films by Subject and Genre
Asian Pacific Islander Diaspora
TWN Workshop Productions
Urban Studies
Women's Studies
Youth Collection
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