Complicated stories: Filmmaker Lisa Mao to present 'Tale of Three Chinatowns' at South Broadway Cultural Center
Oct. 20—Storytelling to Lisa Mao is important as it preserves history.
This is why the Chinese American filmmaker worked diligently for years in creating "A Tale of Three Chinatowns."
The documentary is set to screen at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at the South Broadway Cultural Center. The film is part of the 7th Annual Chinese American Film Festival.
The event runs from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21.
In addition to Mao's film, there will be a screening of "Grace Lee Boggs" at 8 a.m., then Mao's film.
At 12:30 p.m. a panel discussion takes place and session two begins.
After that, at 1:20 p.m., "Blurring the Color Line" will screen.
At 2:45 p.m., the documentary on Anna May Wong will screen and the day will end with a screening of "Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings."
The purpose of the festival is to bridge cultures, foster understanding, combat racial stereotypes and celebrate the diverse and rich tapestry of stories within the Chinese American community. Many who grew up as Chinese Americans suffered through discrimination that was perpetuated in part by Hollywood's negative or comedic portrayals of Chinese in movies or television.
In 2016, a group of members from the Albuquerque chapter of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance organized the first film festival to combat those stereotypes.
"When I was growing up as a child, portrayals of Chinese people were non-Chinese actors playing Charlie Chan or the subservient Hop Sing on the TV show 'Bonanza,' " says Paul Jew, festival chairman. "Thankfully, many wonderful films have since been made that provide a more accurate story of the Chinese American experience, and those are the films we want to showcase in our film festival."
Mao's film examines Chinatowns in three American cities. The film looks at the forces altering each community and the challenges that go with them.
These challenges include competition for space, residential displacement, increased living costs, non-community developers and overall, their survival. The film shows the present day pressing topic of urban development and gentrification through the eyes of those on the frontlines.
"It's a story of gentrification and what we lose when it happens," Mao says. "As we began production on the film, we found that most Chinatown's were struggling to survive. The story grew from there."
Mao says with all the information, that's when the film took focus on three different Chinatowns.
"We could have done a whole film on Chicago's Chinatown alone," Mao says. "Boston's Chinatown is still fighting for survival. And the Chinatown in Philadelphia is fighting its own battle with the stadium."
One thing is for sure, each of the stories has a lot to unpack, Mao says.
Editing the documentary to 90 minutes was a huge undertaking.
"We started to talk about taking some of the interviews and doing small vignettes online," Mao says.
The screening in Albuquerque will be Mao's first trip to the city. She's excited not only to screen her film, but see the city with a thriving Chinese American community.
"I hope the audience takes away the message of activism and having a voice," Mao says. "We can't sit back and let the symbolic bulldozer roll over us. Activism is complicated. Each Chinatown that we featured is different, but has problems that are similar."
