** SOLD OUT** Think!Chinatown is proud to present four new T!C-produced short films at the brand new Firehouse: DCTV’s Cinema for Documentary Film. T!C-produced short films this season honor pioneering community advocates like Yee Ling Poon and Tomie Arai. The screening will be followed by a special performance by treya lam and Taiyo Na, inspired by the songs included in the Yellow Pearl publication by Chris Kando Iijima, Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto, and "Charlie" Chin.
After the premiere, come join us as we celebrate our penultimate program of Chinatown Arts Festival 2022!! Drinks are available for purchase in the lobby of the Firehouse Cinema (support the DCTV non-profit!)
This season’s Art of Storytelling focuses on the pioneering advocate Yee Ling Poon, following her time with Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) and the Basement Workshop. Animated illustrations by Sophia Deng.
This season’s Ode to the Generations tells the story of the public artist and community activist, Tomie Arai, and her place-based work and time at Basement Workshop, the first Asian-American political and arts collective in NYC that was active in Manhattan’s Chinatown-based in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
She Says is a dance film featuring the work of dancer and choreographer, Mei-Yin Ng. With excerpts from Sit, Eat, Chew 五味杂陈, Ng will take you on a guided immersive dance through Manhattan’s Chinatown to uncover two personal stories in exterior and interior locations throughout Chinatown. 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.
Choreographed and Performed by: Mei-Yin Ng | Director of Photography: Liam Lee | Editor: Cathy You | Curated and Produced by: Yin Kong
Performer Bios:
treya lam is an American multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who’s joyously complex identity informs but does not define their work, whether solo or when collaborating with a variety of multidisciplinary ensembles. Their strident voice, politically charged songwriting and fluent instrumental prowess on guitar, piano and strings recalls Nina Simone and Ani DiFranco. Their debut album Good News was released via Kaki King’s label, Short Stuff Records. Lam is currently developing otherland - an audiovisual chamber-folk album on radical self acceptance, intersecting identities and healing in the wake of grief and loss.
Taiyo Na (Taiyo Ebato) is a writer, educator and musician living on unceded Lenape/Canarsie land (Queens, NY). His work spans two decades of cultural and pedagogical contributions to urban communities. He was honored in 2010 by Governor David A. Paterson and the State of New York for his “legacy of leadership to the Asian American community and the Empire State." His writing has appeared in Aperture, Poets House and Unmargin, and he is a 2020 VONA Voices Alum for writing fiction. As an educator, his areas of practice include transformative justice, culturally responsive pedagogy and coaching basketball.
Co-presented with Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV). This Season’s “Art of Storytelling” is made possible by the National Trust’s “Telling the Full History Preservation Fund”.
