Mah-Jongg: The Tiles That Bind

With mah-jongg, two seemingly unrelated cultures in America - Chinese and Jewish - converge. Mah-jongg has been played in Asia since the time of Confucius. In the early 1920s an English language version was imported to the United States and quickly picked up by urban Jewish women, who learned it from friends and relatives in immigrant neighborhoods. For the women who play, the game provides a constant source of amusement as well as a unique support network for life, love and loss.

Phyllis Heller has written, produced and directed several short films including Unholy Sisters of Pity, Poo Poo Pee Doo, and We Wear Shoes. She received a BA in Cinema and a BA in Literature from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where she studied with independent filmmakers Ken Jacobs and Larry Gottheim. She worked as a production assistant at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, New York, and is the founder and President of PR With a Purpose, a Manhattan-based Public Relations firm. Mah-Jongg: The Tiles That Bind is her first documentary., Bari Pearlman is an independent filmmaker and writer, the founder of BTG Productions, and Co-President of Crazy Wisdom Pictures, Inc. She has worked in various aspects of film production, most notably as Associate Producer of the short feature The Mission, Assistant Director/Script Consultant on the dramatic feature The Cat, and Property Master/Script Consultant on the Swedish film Paper Walls, which premiered at the Gothenberg International Film Festival in February 1995. In addition, she has served as the Hospitality Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival in 1996 and 1997, Managing Director of the first New York Women's Film Festival in 1997, and the Curator/Programmer of the Moonworks Short Film Festival (ongoing). She is an Editorial Assistant and Contributor to Filmmaker Magazine, a former Development Officer for the Cunningham Dance Foundation, a published photographer, and a literary translator of Swedish. She has a Master's degree in Literature from Indiana University. Mah-Jongg: The Tiles That Bind is her first documentary.