45th Asian American International Film Festival: Back To Flushing, 12pm-6pm

45th Asian American International Film Festival Movie Screening – [In Person] 12-6pm

Location: Glow Cultural Center

Organizer: Asian CineVision

• 1:00pm Su Casa Senior Videos (47m) + Q&A
  • The TWN SU-CASA 2022 videos range from stories about how seniors coped during Covid to
    how to stay mentally healthy through Covid isolation – to a drama about a wishing stone that
    brings youth and a short documentary about an elderly mother’s battle with injury.
    39 seniors participated in the TWN 2022 SU-CASA Seniors Media Production Workshop, a 3
    month course in video production, learning to shoot and edit on their phones, meeting in-person
    and online. These courses were facilitated for the fifth year by Third World Newsreel at the
    Selfhelp Latimer and Innovative Senior Centers in Flushing and supported in part by public
    funds from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City
    Council.
    TWN SU-CASA 2022 Senior Production Workshop teachers were Yung-Jen Yang and Jian Lu.
    Special thanks to Council Member Sandra Ung. Also thanks to former Council Member Peter
    Koo.

• 2:00pm ACV Archives (112m Here to Stay (7m) + Chinatown Files (57m) + Freckled Rice (48m)
  • Here to Stay (2008)
    Directed by ManSee Kong | 7 Min | Documentary | Chinese (Cantonese), English Subtitles |
    USA
    Despite a shaky U.S. economy, gentrification pressures are on the rise throughout New York City and in areas across the country. Many believe that Manhattan’s Chinatown is insular and “safe” from gentrification but a local tenant organizing group, Chinatown Tenants Union, knows that this is far from the truth. Uncle Wong, an 80 year-old tenant, muses over the effects of gentrification as a long-term tenant living in one Chinatown’s few remaining single-room occupancy (SRO) buildings, and explains why no one is willing to leave despite a pending anti-eviction lawsuit against their landlord.
  • The Chinatown Files
    Directed by Amy Chen |57 Min | Documentary | Chinese (Cantonese), English, English Subtitles | USA
    This documentary brings to the public, for the first time, a story that was classified as secret by
    the US government for over four decades. Exploring the roots and legacy of the Cold War on
    the Chinese American community during the 1950s and the 1960s, it presents first hand
    accounts of seven men and women’s experiences of being hunted down, jailed, and targeted
    for deportation in America. During McCarthy era witch-hunts, the loyalties of over ten thousand
    American citizens of Chinese descent were questioned based on their ethnicity and alleged risk
    to national security.
  • Freckled Rice (1983)
    Directed by Stephen Ning | 48 Minutes | Narrative, Drama | Chinese (Cantonese), English,
    English Subtitles | USA
    This is a story of Joe Soo, a 13-year-old boy coming of age and coming to terms with his
    Chinese America heritage in Boston during the 1960s. His Boston encompasses Screamin’ Jay
    Hawkins, the Kennedy years, “My Three Sons” and rock ‘n’ roll. It is a world his older brother has
    readily embraced and one his immigrant father fails to comprehend. An excellently executed
    drama, full of streetwise humor and insight.

• 4:30pm Chinatown Beat abridged (47m) Dear Corky (18m) + A Father’s Son (29m) + Q&A
  • Dear Corky (2022)
    Directed by Curtis Chin |17 Min | Documentary | English, Chinese (Cantonese), English | USA |
    New York Premiere
    For over 50 years, New York native Corky Lee photographed his hometown’s Chinatown and
    Asian American communities around the country. With a strong sense of social justice, he
    captured activists, celebrities, and everyday heroes with equal passion, taking over 100,000
    photos. Sadly, while documenting the latest rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, Corky fell to COVID.
    Through his own words and pictures, DEAR CORKY reveals the man behind the camera.
  • A Father’s Son (2022)
    Directed by Partrick Chen | 29 Min | Narrative, Drama, Family | English, Chinese (Cantonese),
    English Subtitles | USA | New York Premiere
    A story-spinoff based on author Henry Chang’s crime novel series of NYPD Detective Jack Yu.
    Set in the early ’90s when local street gangs terrorized Manhattan’s Chinatown, our story
    centers on Jack Yu investigating the murder of a teenage boy involved in a turf war. Amidst the
    broad distrust and racial divide between the Chinatown community and NYPD, our lone
    lawman searches for a nondescript immigrant family to deliver a shattering message that also
    brings forth his own conflicted relationship with his father.