For the first time ever, Think!Chinatown is proud to present…
Chinatown Storytelling Festival!
Illustration by Claud Li, lettering by Yaxi Xiao
Hosted at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema from May 5-7, 2024, Chinatown Storytelling Festival presents an exciting selection of new short films from Think!Chinatown’s storytelling team as well as films from T!C, DCTV, and Third World Newsreel’s archives. Created as a space to highlight and celebrate stories from within the Chinatown community, the Festival hopes to inspire the production of storytelling projects centering self-representation. This APAHM, we spotlight the complex stories of immigration journeys, the birth of the Asian American movement, and the everyday lives of Chinatown community members. We honor these under-told stories that are important all year round. Led by festival curators Yin Kong, Rochelle Hoi-Yu Kwan, and Hai-Li Kong, we present two curated programs of short films.
Check out our music-focused and history-focused film series below!
Festival Programs
For the festival, we’re presenting two film series: “Songs for Chinatown” and “Once Upon A Time in Chinatown.” See below for program descriptions.
Songs for Chinatown
Sunday, May 5 w/ Q&A at 3PM - Buy tickets!
Monday, May 6 at 7:30PM - Buy tickets!
Once Upon A Time in Chinatown
Sunday, May 5 w/ Q&A at 7PM - *SOLD OUT!
Tuesday, May 7 at 7:30PM - Buy tickets!
Program Details
Songs for Chinatown
Still from An Ode to Our Generations
This film series weaves together stories about how the power of music connects people and draws strength in our community. T!C will premiere the newest piece from our Art of Storytelling series featuring Zhang Jingtai, a beloved music teacher at Mencius Society for the Arts. Short films selected from the archives of Think!Chinatown and Third World Newsreel also explores this musical theme.
Check out the full lineup:
Music Is Here In Our Lives, follows Chinese musician Zhang Jingtai's love for music from China to Manhattan’s Chinatown.
An Ode to Our Generations featuring Arlan Huang & treya lam, traces the start of the Basement Workshop.
An Ode to Our Generations featuring Nobuko Miyamoto & treya lam, explores the musical legacies of A Grain of Sand and Yellow Pearl by the Basement Workshop.
Chinatown Shopping for Fuzhou Eats with Yuhua & Jinmei, opera singers from Fujian, to find out the special secret behind FJ opera singing and discover all the best Fuzhounese goodies!
A Song for Ourselves, from Third World Newsreel's archives, captures the "intimate journey into the life and music of Asian American Movement troubadour Chris Iijima".
Forbidden City, U.S.A. from Third World Newsreel's archives, brings us into San Francisco's all Chinese nightclub in the 1940s.
Once Upon A Time in Chinatown
Still from Rocking the Boat, illustration by Sophia Deng
This film series puts the lives of our Chinatown neighbors in the context of the Asian American movement. T!C will premiere the newest piece from our Ode to Our Generations series which explores the creation and long-lasting impacts of the Yellow Pearl publication by the Basement Workshop. Short films selected from the archives of Think!Chinatown, DCTV, and Third World Newsreel come together to explore this theme.
Check out the full lineup:
An Ode to Our Generations featuring George Chew and Taiyo Na, the fourth chapter of T!C's An Ode to Our Generations series, continues the poetry element of the Yellow Pearl publication by the Basement Workshop
What I Wanted Most, traces a family's difficult journey from China to Panama to NYC
Rocking the Boat, focuses on the pioneering advocate Yee Ling Poon
She Says, a dance film about two women in different time periods of Chinatown
Canal Street: First Stop in America (excerpt), from DCTV’s archives, takes us on an "insiders-only journey into life on this make-it-or-break-it street"
From Spikes to Spindles, from Third World Newsreel's archives, "captures the early days of an emerging consciousness in the [Chinatown] community"
Thank you to our partner and neighbor, Firehouse: DCTV’s Cinema for Documentary Film.
A special thank you to Third World Newsreel.
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.