By Eva Trieger
SAN DIEGO –A child animator who has won several awards for his work on a movie about the Holocaust now has another poignant story he’s illustrating, one that tells the story of his father’s determined but ultimately unsuccessful battle against cancer.
San Diegans first met Perry Chen, 12, through his early career as a film critic appearing in various local publications. The diminutive animator achieved recognition for his work on a film about Holocaust survivor Ingrid Pitt. Under the direction of renowned animator Bill Plympton, Perry drew the story about the horrors faced by an 8-year-old girl during a most brutal period of world history.
His father, Changyou Chen, was a PhD medical researcher who particularly loved cooking for his family and friends. One day, while preparing a special dish, a fork became embedded in his right hand middle finger. After the wound apparently healed, a nefarious cancer had begun growing. Squamous cell cancer was diagnosed sometime later and the finger had to be removed.
Dr. Chen’s scientific work took him back to Mainland China where he started a biotech company. Sadly, in 2010, the cancer that had cost him his finger claimed his arm, and had metastasized to his lymph system and chest wall. This only strengthened Changyou’s resolve to find a cure for cancer.
However, on July 19th, at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Changyou lost his battle and succumbed to the pitiless disease. Recently at a gathering in his home hosted by Perry and his mother Zhu Shen, the spirit of Changyou was heartily celebrated and acknowledged by those who knew him. Zhu Shen invited all those who’d known her family to come and share in a ceremony of remembrance to honor and recall the life of this unique man.
Perry told of his current work making an animated film to share his father’s life with all of us, even those of us who missed out on meeting him in life.
Changyou’s Journey will depict the humble beginnings of life in the rural Chinese village of Anhui, where Changyou farmed and fished with his four siblings. He often regaled Perry with tales of his adventures, and frequently shared his “bounty of knowledge” through his colorful and inspirational tales. It seems that as an extraordinary young man, he felt he owed it to others to take his skills beyond this small village. He completed university in China and then came to America to pursue higher education.
Zhu Shen described her husband as “very fulfilled, with few regrets” and said she hopes that through the support of donations for Perry’s animated film, Changyou’s Journey, her husband’s “spirit and legacy will live on.” She said she hopes to bring this inspirational and beautiful story to film festivals around the world.
Following his mom’s courageous example, Perry spoke to the burgeoning crowd of nearly sixty well wishers. He thanked everyone for coming to remember “the brave, humble, kind man that was my dad.” He spoke a few moments more about his memories of his dad’s stories of life in his native village and then shared with us the forty second clip of Changyou’s Journey. The film, in total, will run only five minutes, and donations to www.perryspreviews.com will ensure that.
Perry said he is consoled by the fact that he will hear the voice of his father in the “song of birds” and feel his dad’s touch in the “summer breeze”.
If Perry could make the story of Ingrid Pitt, a stranger, reach into so many hearts, then certainly his own father’s tale should touch us even more deeply. Observing and listening to so many accounts of the impact and impression Changyou left on his friends and colleagues, it was clear to this writer that his journey is worth experiencing through Perry’s loving animation.
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Trieger is a freelance writer based in San Diego who specializes in the arts. She may be contacted at eva. trieger@sdjewishworld.com
This article was zhuper