On movies and motherhood with Ellie Wen

Welcome to another episode of Teen People; the podcast that catches up with real people from Teen People magazine! In 2005, Ellie Wen appeared on Teen People’s annual list of 20 Teens Who Will Change the World. As a young teen, Ellie created an award-winning digital library called Repeat After Us. She and her friends recorded and transcribed poems, quotes, speeches, and books; including works by Katharine Hepburn, Frida Kahlo, Shakespeare, and Oprah. At the time, Ellie said that the website would function as a free resource for literature lovers and English language learners. It had 2000 hits a day when Teen People profiled it in 2005.

As an adult, Ellie shifted into a career as a documentary filmmaker. Born in Hong Kong, Ellie’s now based in San Francisco, where she lives with her husband and a “pandemic baby”. She spoke with me about 'Single Mother Only Daughter' (a short film she made about her relationship with her mother)and how she’s changing the world.

Podcast notes:

Find Ellie: www.elliewen.com
Watch 'Single Mother Only Daughter': https://vimeo.com/206768959

Find me: www.annasoper.ca
Twitter/Instagram: TeenPeoplePod

Curious about how books are digitized? Read more: https://www.samuelmoore.org/2017/11/28/google-books-and-labour-erasure-in-the-digital-humanities/

Music: © Anna Soper
Film clip: courtesy of Ellie Wen

Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.