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Stories help us understand and connect with one other—and this new storytelling festival will do exactly that when it premieres in May.
The Chinatown Storytelling Festival, a new initiative from Think!Chinatown, highlights and celebrates stories from within the Chinatown community. In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the festival spotlights the complex stories of immigration journeys, the birth of the Asian American movement, and the everyday lives of Chinatown community members. See this collection of short films during the Chinatown Storytelling Festival from May 5-7 at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema; tickets cost $16 with discounted group admission.
RECOMMENDED: A documentary theater is opening in Chinatown’s historic Firehouse Building
The festival offers two curated film series. The first, called “Songs for Chinatown,” weaves together stories about how the power of music connects people and draws strength. The second, titled “Once Upon A Time in Chinatown,” puts the lives of Chinatown neighbors in the context of the Asian American movement.
Festival curators Yin Kong, Rochelle Hoi-Yu Kwan, and Hai-Li Kong selected from Think!Chinatown’s storytelling archives, as well as the archives of DCTV and Third World Newsreel. Plus, the festival also features the premiere of two new Think!Chinatown storytelling projects.
We are asserting our undertold histories in the wider American narrative. Through the practice of storytelling, we can push back against racism and xenophobia.
“By telling and sharing stories from Chinatown, we are asserting our under-told histories in the wider American narrative. Through the practice of storytelling, we can push back against racism and xenophobia. Making space for these stories is our way of celebrating that we belong here,” Yin Kong, festival curator and executive director of Think!Chinatown said in a press release.
Festival organizers hope the event will inspire the production of storytelling projects centering self-representation. The also noted that these under-told stories are important year-round, not just during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
Featured films at Chinatown Storytelling Festival
Music Here In Our Lives (premiere)
Artist Claud Li brings to life the story of Chinese musician Zhang Jingtai, following his love for music from China to Manhattan’s Chinatown. After singing in a traveling propaganda band during the Cultural Revolution and teaching music at various Chinese universities, Jingtai became a music teacher at Mencius Society for the Arts in Manhattan’s Chinatown, where T!C team member Alice Liu becomes his student.
An Ode to Our Generations: Remembering the Music and Memories of Yellow Pearl and Basement Workshop (premiere)
Hear from spoken word poets George Chew and Taiyo Na as they remember beloved poets Fay Chiang and Frances Chung of Basement Workshop and Yellow Pearl.
She Says
This dance film featuring the work of dancer and choreographer Mei-Yin Ng takes viewers on a guided immersive dance through Manhattan’s Chinatown to uncover two personal stories. The film also includes excerpts from Sit, Eat, Chew 五味杂陈. The Chinese proverb—Wǔ Wèi Zá Chén 五味杂陈—references the five traditional tastes of cooking (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty) to describe the complex emotions in life’s ups and downs. These stories have become the creative and emotional inspiration for the dance theater performance. The stories of two women in two different time periods of Chinatown come to life through this film.
Canal Street: First Stop in America
Less than a mile long, Canal Street is the dirtiest and noisiest, but also the most vibrant and dynamic street in New York City. Emmy Award-winning director/producer Keiko Tsuno and Asian-American issues specialist Peter Kwong take us on an insider-only journey into life on this make-it-or-break-it street. Explore the bustling underground world of counterfeit goods, street vendors, shanty towns and sweatshops. And witness the struggle of hardworking people subject not only to the difficulties of their labor but to a street with a law of its own.
