EXCLUSIVE: We’ve got your first look at the Karen Cho documentary Big fight in Little Chinatownahead of Friday’s world premiere at DOC NYC.
The film examines an existential threat to Chinatown neighborhoods in three North American cities – New York, Vancouver and Montreal – whose uniqueness and cultural significance are threatened by development and gentrification.
“From the construction of a mega-prison in New York’s Chinatown, to Montreal’s Chinatown struggling against predatory developers, to one Vancouver Chinatown corporation standing firm,” reads the documentary’s description, “the film shows that Chinatown both other communities are, blurred the city map and blueprint for inclusive and resilient neighborhoods of the future.”
Big fight in Little Chinatown Premiere Friday afternoon at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival, with an additional in-person screening on Sunday. It will be available via the festival’s online screening portal from Saturday 12 November to Sunday 27 November.
“Big fight in Little Chinatown is a story of resistance and community resilience,” reads a press release. “Set against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic and an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian racism, the documentary takes us into the lives of residents, businesses and community organizers whose neighborhoods are being actively erased.”
A resident of New York’s Chinatown says in the trailer, “This is America – fifth generation Chinese-American – and we evolved here.” Another resident says, “When you think about where it’s located, Chinatown has really made a neighborhood that the city really wants to reclaim to make a lot of money.”
Cho was born in Montreal and graduated from Concordia University. Her biography states that she is “a fifth generation descendant of the ‘Low Wah Kiu’ (ancient overseas Chinese) who came to Canada during the gold rush and railway years… Karen’s first film In the shadow of the golden mountain (2004) examined the Chinese Canadian immigration experience, the legacy of the Head Tax and Exclusion Act, and explored how legal racism in Canada affected the Chinese side of her family while rewarding her European ancestors for immigration.
“The experience of making this film helped shape Karen’s vision as a documentary filmmaker dedicated to exploring the stories of underrepresented communities and expanding the idea of Canadian identity and history.”
Cho’s work spans film and television. Her other film work includes: seek shelter (2009), a film about asylum seekers in Canada, and Status quo? Feminism’s Unfinished Business in Canada (2012), Winner of Best Documentary at the Whistler Film Festival.
Check out the trailer Big fight in Little Chinatown Above here.
Writer: Matthew Carey
Source: Deadline
