This programme features five shorts made by visual artist and filmmaker Luka Yuanyuan Yang between 2019-2022, that derive from her multifaceted research on Chinese diasporas. By crafting stories where fact and fiction exist, these films challenge conventional historical interpretation, amplify the voices of the forgotten, and preserve the fragmented memories of Chinese immigrant communities.
The screening will be followed by a signing session of the director’s new book, Dance in Herland.
Tales of Chinatown 中国城轶事 (2019) 19’11’’
The film opens with a walking tour in San Francisco Chinatown: walking into the last surviving theater following the scene from the 1940s film “Lady from Shanghai” directed by Orson Welles; wandering from “Shanghai Low” to “Forbidden City Nightclub” – the camera follows the pace of Chinese American nightclub dancer Cynthia Yee, historians Wylie Wong and David Lei onto a journey across time and space.
The Lady from Shanghai 上海来的女士 (2019) 16’24’’
Despite living in San Francisco for her entire adult life, the 78-year-old Ceecee Wu has always considered herself as "the lady from Shanghai", so does her 101-year-old mother with amnesia who always muttered “Where is this? Am I in Shanghai?” In this film, Ceecee shares a love journal between her and her ex-husband from Shanghai, the two met each other through a dating website in the millennium and formed a relationship that defeats the obstacle of language and geographical boundaries.
Coby and Stephen Are in Love 相爱的柯比与史蒂芬 (2019) 30’41’’
dir. Luka Yuanyuan Yang and Carlo Nasisse
Coby Yee, a 92-year-old retired nightclub dancer and icon from San Francisco Chinatown’s golden age, and Stephen King, a man 20 years her junior who has been an experimental filmmaker since the 1960s anti-war movement. They have found an unlikely love in each other through matching outfits, dance, and art. Coby updated Stephen’s wardrobe soon after they started dating, she hand-makes all of their clothes and ensures that they never leave the house without matching outfits from head to toe. Stephen has become Coby’s personal archivist, he creates photo albums and collages constructed from glamorous images of Coby, from the past and the present. As their final performance in Las Vegas approaches, Coby and Stephen start to prepare their last dance on the curtain call.
Cantonese Tunes on Mott Street 勿街粤曲 (2022) 16’28’’
"Cantonese Tunes on Mott Street" follows three Cantonese opera enthusiasts in New York: a Chinese immigrant from a Cantonese opera family, a Hong Kong immigrant who moved to New York as a child, and a Chinese refugee from Cuba. For them, Cantonese opera performances serve as a sanctuary.
American Relative 美国亲戚 (2022) 26’28’’
Set in San Francisco and Toisan, "The American Relative" follows Pat Chu Nishimoto as she uncovers her late father's secret. In 1980, she visits China for the first time and discovers a family of half-relatives. The film then shifts to these Chinese relatives, who recount the history of their ancestral home, highlighting the erosion of history and culture amidst rapid modernization.