Chinatown Storytelling Festival 2025

 

Chinatown Storytelling Festival 2024 by dr. christina ong

 
 

We're back with our second year of Chinatown Storytelling Festival from May 8-18, 2025! We’ll have screenings at DCTV Firehouse Cinema, workshops and presentations at Think!Chinatown’s Studio, and even walking tours. From new stories 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, while hoping to inspire our next generations of storytellers to come.

 

Open Call for Community Works

We’re curious about what is being made by our own community members. So, we thought we’d make an open call to see what’s out there. We will select 4-7 projects to share in our studio during this year’s festival on May 8. And keep the rest on file for other potential screening opportunities in the future! Whether you're still in the early stages of development or have a finished piece ready to share with the world, we invite you to apply.

What We're Looking For:

  • Archival footage of Manhattan’s Chinatown. Could even be home videos or old films that've been lying around!

  • Current storytelling projects about and/or made by/with members of the Chinatown community. These projects could span any storytelling medium, including film, audio, performance, digital media, visual arts, and more.

Does this sound exciting to you? Make sure you read our open call guidelines to learn more & apply by Tuesday, April 8 at 5pm!

Thank you to our partner and neighbor, Firehouse: DCTV’s Cinema for Documentary Film.

 
 

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.