Chinatown Storytelling Festival 2025
Video still shot by Liam Lee, lettering by Yaxi Xiao
From May 8 to 18, 2025, Chinatown Storytelling Festival is back for its second year! The Festival features screenings at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema, workshops and presentations at Think!Chinatown’s Studio, and walking tours in the neighborhood. From a new mini-doc about Chinatown’s artisanal tofu produced by Think!Chinatown to treasures pulled from our community’s archives, this year will continue to highlight and celebrate stories from within the Chinatown community, and inform our next generations of storytellers to come.
Check out our full program line up and get your tickets now!
Festival Programs
Screenings at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema
In our second year of Chinatown Storytelling Festival, Think!Chinatown is excited to return to DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema to present two new film series: “All Things Food” and “Chinatown in the Archives.”
All Things Food
Chinatown in the Archives
Still from “Chinatown Shopping the Cantonese Way with MeeMee”
Photo courtesy of DCTV
Sunday, May 11 w/ Q&A at 5PM - Buy tickets!
Wednesday, May 14 at 7PM - Buy tickets!
Curated by Think!Chinatown, the All Things Food program puts Chinatown’s stories on the big screen through the lens of food. Think!Chinatown’s newest mini-doc, Artisanal Chinatown: Tofu 舖, will premiere with this program, alongside Think!Chinatown’s other food-related short films and treasures pulled from our community’s archives.
Stay tuned for the full line up!
Tuesday, May 13 w/ Q&A at 7PM - Buy tickets!
Curated by Think!Chinatown’s partner and neighbor Jon Alpert of Firehouse: DCTV’s Cinema for Documentary Film, the Chinatown in the Archives program explores the DCTV archives from the early 1970’s. During that time, NYC’s Chinatown fought for better public services, greater opportunities, and cultural respect, simultaneously coinciding with the birth of community media. DCTV was honored to have played an important role in the community’s victories during this time. Some of these films documenting this moment survived, and will be presented for the first time in half a century.
Stay tuned for the full line up!
Thank you to our partner and neighbor, Firehouse: DCTV’s Cinema for Documentary Film.
Thank you to our partners and friends for bringing this Chinatown Storytelling Festival to life with us: Chinatown Records, UNASSIMILATED, and our next generation of storytellers.
Chinatown Storytelling Festival is a celebration of Think!Chinatown’s newly produced storytelling projects, as well as a deep dive across archives of short films about Chinatown. Chinatown Storytelling Festival aims to foster the creation and viewership of projects featuring our under-told stories.
Think!Chinatown is a place-based intergenerational non-profit in Manhattan’s Chinatown, working at the intersection of storytelling, arts, neighborhood engagement, and creative placekeeping. We believe the process of listening, reflecting and celebrating develops the community cohesion and trust necessary to work on larger neighborhood issues. By building strength from within our neighborhood, we can shape better policies and programs that define our public spaces, celebrate our cultural heritage and innovate how our collective memories are represented. T!C is the team powering the Chinatown Night Market, Chinatown Block Parties, Chinatown Arts Festival, Chinatown Storytelling Festival and more.
Chinatown Storytelling Festival is held on the unceded land of the Lenape peoples. Think!Chinatown’s cultural activities are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Dept of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional leadership support for Think!Chinatown is generously provided by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. T!C is also grateful for funding from New York City Dept of Small Business Services, Con Edison and many individual friends.