Christine Choy: Double Bill

The first programme in our retrospective of pioneering Asian American filmmaker Christine Choy is a double bill of two short films reflecting Choy’s interest in the little-shown experience of East and Southeast Asian immigrants to the US. Giving voice to workers, community leaders and refugees, the films were unusual for their focus and candour at the time, and are still strikingly humanistic testaments to the complexity of the immigrant experience.

From Spikes to Spindles | Dir. Christine Choy | 1976 | 45 mins
This raw, gutsy portrait of New York’s Chinatown captures the early days of an emerging consciousness in the community. We see a Chinatown rarely depicted, a vibrant community whose young and old join forces to protest police brutality and hostile real estate developers. With bold strokes, it paints an overview of the community and its history, from the early laborers driving spikes into the transcontinental railroad to the garment workers of today.

Bittersweet Survival: Southeast Asian Refugees in America | Dir. Christine Choy, J.T. Takagi | 1982 | 30 mins
Christine Choy and co-director J.T. Takagi examine the re-settlement of Southeast Asian refugees in the United States in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

The film begins with a montage of riveting footage depicting the devastating effects of the war. It then unveils the mixed reception given to Vietnamese refugees in the United States, from battles with local fishermen in Monterey, California, to conflicts in Philadelphia where their arrival in the city’s poorest neighbourhoods kindled resentment in the Black community. The film also explores their struggle to cope with life in the U.S. and to maintain their identity.