Street Movies! Chinatown

Hosted by the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, join us for a screening of five short films and a community discussion highlighting Asian-American artists, activists, local businesses, and international culture. Programming support by Art21.

7:45pm – Doors Open

8:00pm – Live Music Performance by Alyssa Garcia

8:20pm-10:00pm – Film Program & Discussion

Film Program:

• Staying Put: Stories of Chinatown’s Resistence (USA / 2018 / 11:15 Minutes): “Staying Put” is PCDC’s update on the state of Chinatown; after nearly 50 years, it is a response to “Save Chinatown”, the documentary produced by Jon Wing Lum in 1973 in the midst of the Save Chinatown movement, as homes in Chinatown were being demolished and the Philadelphia Chinatown community made history as one of the few that successfully rallied against urban renewal to preserve their community. “Staying Put” summarizes “Save Chinatown” in retrospective, and provides a needed update: what happened next, and Chinatown’s current hopes for the future.
• Magic Fingers (USA / 2024 / 15 Minutes): This film follows Sister Jing, the founder and sole owner of Artiva Hair Salon, as she shapes the memory of countless passersby and residents in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
• Dear Corky (USA / 2024 / 16:27 Minutes): New Yorker Corky Lee photographed his hometown’s Chinatown and Asian American communities around the country for over 50 years, documenting activists, celebrities and everyday heroes he encountered in over 100,000 photos. While documenting the latest rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, Lee passed away from COVID-19. In his own words and photos, this short documentary reveals the man behind the camera.
• Song Dong & Yin Xiuzhen in “Beijing” (USA / 2020 / 17:28 Minutes): Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen, two Beijing natives, reflect on three decades of deeply personal artmaking and the shared experience of living in Beijing through its unprecedented transformation. This film follows the pair as they install the latest iteration of their collaborative project, The Way of the Chopsticks.
• Endless Chain of Lies (Hong Kong / 2023 / 16:58 Minutes): A chance encounter in a Sheung Wan laundromat leads two strangers down an unexpected path.

Scribe Video Center’s annual Street Movies! series returns for its 27th year this summer, bringing independent, local, and award-winning films to outdoor community spaces across Philadelphia. For over two decades now, Street Movies! has been a great way for people to gather together, engage with independent film, and foster discussion around the cultural histories of their neighborhood and issues affecting their communities. All screenings are free, open to the public, and family-friendly.