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Co-sponsored by Chinese Historical Society of America
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
El proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperación con Arts Midwest.
Friday, October 7 - Hollywood Chinese, 2007, 89 minutes, directed by Arthur Dong, featuring Nancy Kwan, James Hong, Wayne Wang and Luise Rainer
Hollywood Chinese examines Chinese representation in mainstream American films from the earliest silent days to the early 21st century. The Fu Manchu series, yellowface and whitewashing, and various breakthroughs and disappointments are covered with a trove of clips and interviews. Dong gathered an impressive array of actors, directors, and writers to share their stories and thoughts, including B. D. Wong (M. Butterfly), Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club), Christopher Lee (The Face of Fu Manchu), Nancy Kwan (The World of Susie Wong, Flower Drum Song), Wayne Wang (Chan is Missing), and Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). The result is an invaluable capturing of film history. (Image used with permission of Deep Focus Productions)
Arthur Dong, Academy Award nominated director of Hollywood Chinese, will join the post-screening discussion via Zoom.
Arthur Dong is an Oscar®-nominated, and Peabody and triple Sundance award-winning filmmaker, author and curator whose work centers on Asian American and LGBTQ stories. Among Dong’s over 100 film excellence awards are the Berlin Film Festival’s Teddy Award, Taiwan’s Golden Horse Award, two consecutive GLAAD Media Awards and five Emmy nominations. (Photo by Max Shapovalov)
CinemaLit / October 2022 – Exposing Chinese Stereotypes in Film \
The Mechanics' Institute Library has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts "Big Read" grant. The grant showcases a single book through a range of tours, discussions, seminars, and screenings. The honored book is Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown (2020), a remarkable novel exploring immigration and the limitations of Chinese identity in modern America. It's funny and sad, and creatively written to read like a screenplay.
In the spirit of Interior Chinatown, October at CinemaLit will feature "Exposing Chinese Stereotypes in Film." Our opening film is Hollywood Chinese (2007), Arthur Dong's compelling documentary exploring the history of Chinese representation in American films. We follow that with three films featured prominently in Hollywood Chinese, each offering their own point of view on representation, identity, and stereotyping: Shanghai Express (1932), The Good Earth (1937), and Enter the Dragon (1973).
Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies.
“I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."
“Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”
Check out the Chinese Historical Society's exhibit We Are Bruce Lee: Under the Sky, One Family, and the CHSA Cinema Under the Sky series, Radiating Bruce Lee.
MI & Friends of Chinese Historical Society of America Free
Public $10
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CinemaLit Films
