Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song (1989)

"Mei Mei" chronicles Dmae Lo Roberts and her mother, Chu-Yin, as they travel to Taiwan together.  Dmae seeks an opportunity to grow closer with her mother, but the trip ends with them not speaking.  First produced in 1989, Roberts’ documentary is highly personal and was groundbreaking for its time--weaving interviews and dramatizations to tell the story of a conflicted daughter and her mother who suffered abuse, starvation and the horrors of World War Two. Mei Mei is Chinese for "little sister", a term of endearment for any younger girl,  but one denied Chu-Yin, who was sold twice as a child to families that abused her physically and emotionally.  Using interviews and dramatizations, Roberts investigates her mother’s experience. “This isn’t about me,” Roberts says at the top. “I don’t hate her,” she says at the end. This dissonance plays throughout the work, with Roberts’ narration delivered brashly and matched only by her mother’s impatient responses to probing questions she’s answered before.  But after revealing her mother’s several suicide attempts, Roberts’ tone breaks and she embraces their fiery relationship.  The sound of Mei Mei has been carried forward by contemporary audio documentary, inspiring an approach to sound design that underpins projects like The Heart and Radiolab. The blend of nonfiction interview and dramatizations - once passé - has returned and been central to recent projects like Magnificent Jerk. But even more broadly, Roberts' work remains a foundational piece of memoir,sing sound to transport the listener into another’s life and the most personal and intimate relationship between parent and child. Awards: 1989 Peabody Award