dgeneratefilms
Jan 21, 2014
WE LANDED / I WAS BORN / PASSING BY
NEW YORK’S CHINATOWN ON SCREEN
January 24 – January 26, 2014
ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
Whether you see Chinatown as a place or a state of mind, a purgatory or an
oasis, a shrinking immigrant community or an expanding business district,
its presence in our cinematic imagination is enormous. Situated north of
NYC’s Wall Street, east of the Tombs, west of the old Jewish Ghetto, and
mostly south of Canal, the neighborhood that began in the mid-19th century
has maintained its distinct character – savory, hardscrabble, succulent,
and cacophonous.
WE LANDED/I WAS BORN/PASSING BY explores a provocative array of images of
the community from the 1940s to the present day. By embracing the
perspectives of grassroots activists, performance artists, conceptual
visionaries, home-movie makers, punk horror devotees, and journalists, the
series raises questions about how we look at the neighborhood and how its
representations have reciprocally shaped our imagination. Who lived in
Chinatown at the beginning? Who lives there now? How and why has it
changed? What language best describes Chinatown? Whose voices do we hear?
Inspired by the fabulously observant 1960s poetry of Chinatown’s very own
Frances Chung, this 5-part film series looks at the streets, desires,
shops, and struggles of an iconic community that only begins to reveal its
stories when the most obvious outer layers are pulled back. Comprised of
documentaries, archival footage, home videos, literary readings,
photography, and performance, the series rings in Chinese New Year by
opening a window to both early and contemporary conditions. Through it
all, geography, memory, and observation compress and expand the imaginary
and the real of this beloved section of the Big Apple.
Curated by Lesley Yiping Qin, Lynne Sachs, Bo Wang, and Xin Zhou.
Reception: Sat, Jan 25 7:15pm, in the lobby of Anthology Film Archives.
Anthology Film Archives | 32 Second Ave, New York, NY 10003 |