Obituary: Loni Ding

The Visual Communications family was saddened to learn of the passing of veteran Bay Area filmmaker, educator and media policy activist Loni Ding, who died from complications of a series of strokes on February 20, 2010.

One of the first generations of Asian American independent producers who cut their cinematic teeth through public television initiatives for recruitment and training of ethnic minorities in the 1960s and ‘70s, Loni amassed a sizeable body of work beginning with her 1974 PBS production WILLI LOBO, MANCHILD. She is further distinguished by her documentaries including 600 MILLENNIA: CHINA’S HISTORY UNEARTHED (1975), HOW WE GOT HERE: THE CHINESE (1975) and the well-regarded children’s series BEAN SPROUTS (1980).  

Her most noteworthy works, inspired in part by the riveting testimonies of Japanese Americans during the 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings, was NISEI SOLDIER: STANDARD BEARER FOR AN EXILED PEOPLE (1984) and THE COLOR OF HONOR (1987) – two works that brought to light the exploits of Japanese Americans who served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Battalion and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II.

As a key policy advocate for public television and independent cinema, Loni was instrumental in organizing a 1980 national conference of Asian Pacific American media arts organizations, producers, directors, and activists that resulted in the formation of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), which had created a space for Asian Pacific American cinema on public broadcast airwaves. The organization continues its work today as the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

Visual Communications had a good teacher and friend in Loni, through our good and bad times. Loni’s support was especially instrumental in 1984, when she provided a print of NISEI SOLDIER rent-free, allowing VC to host a successful Los Angeles premiere screening. Proceeds went toward retiring a massive production debt that threatened to sink the organization at the time.

In 1988, Loni donated of a print of her epic THE COLOR OF HONOR, which allowed VC to cast a long-overdue spotlight on the Japanese American veterans who served in the MIS. VC staffers aided Loni in shooting select sequences of both films, and came to value the care and attention she afforded her subject matter.

A funeral service is being planned for Sunday, March 14 at the Green Street Mortuary in San Francisco, followed by a procession through Chinatown. A celebration of Loni’s life is being planned for a later this spring.