Letter From The Filmmaker

This is a movie about women, by women. In this film, the women are the heroes; and I am inserting their stories, lives and voices into the world and into the fabric of history. They hold this court and this movie together because they are the ones creating change and telling us the way life really is out there in the streets of New York City and the world.

I am a first-generation Chinese-American raised in Youngstown, Ohio. I am one of four girls. I grew up in a culture where women were always considered to be inferior to men. BLOWIN’ UP is my response to the institutional ways we think of gender and sex. I support the choices of all women even if I would not make certain choices for myself. I believe all women deserve equality and freedom and know I am in no position to tell women what that equality and freedom should look like.

BLOWIN’ UP is my homage to all the resilient women who have come before me, who bore all the pain and injustices brought upon them so that my generation could thrive. I will remain silent no more.

—Stephanie Wang-Breal, Director, BLOWIN' UP