A Feature Documentary by Karen Cho
Big Fight in Little Chinatown is a story of community resistance and resilience. Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian racism, the documentary takes us into the lives of residents, businesses and community organizers whose neighborhoods are facing active erasure.
Coast to Coast the film follows Chinatown communities resisting the pressures around them. From the construction of the world’s largest vertical jail in New York, Montreal’s fight against developers swallowing up the most historic block of their Chinatown, big box chains and gentrification forces displacing Toronto’s community, to a Vancouver Chinatown business holding steadfast, the film reveals how Chinatown is both a stand-in for other communities who’ve been wiped off the city map, and the blueprint for inclusive and resilient neighbourhoods of the future.
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
April 5 - McCord Museum, Montreal, QC. Buy tickets here.
April 16 - CINÉMA PUBLIC / Montreal, QC. Buy tickets here.
April 29 - RADIO CANADA BROADCAST / Ici Telé @ 22:30
MAY 4 & 9 & 14th- DOXA / Vancouver BC. Buy tickets here.
MAY 6 - FascinAsian / Winnipeg MB. Buy tickets here.
MAY 7 - Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival / Los Angeles CA Buy tickets here.
MAY 9, 11, 13 - TVO BROADCAST. Watch here.
MAY 13 - Center for Asian American Media Festival (CAAMFest) / San Francisco CA. Buy tickets here.
MAY 14 - FascinAsian / Calgary AB. Buy tickets here.
May 16 - In Community Screening @ Bu Vintage Shoppe / Calgary AB. BuyTickets here.
MAY 25 - Virtual Screening CanAsian Arts Network. Watch Here
MAY 27 - In Community Screening @ Ukranian National Federation Hall / Edmonton AB. Buy tickets here.
MAY 28 - In Community Screening @ Edmonton Chinatown Multicultural Centre/ Edmonton AB. Buy tickets here.
MAY 30 - HOT DOCS Cinema / Toronto ON. Buy tickets here.
JUNE 3 - In Community Screening @ Chinatown Cineplex Odeon / Vancouver BC. (Community Invite Only)
JUNE 4 - Houston Asian American & Pacific Islander Film Festival / Houston TX. (Virtual) Buy Tickets Here
JUNE 5 - In Community Screening @ Robson Square with UBC Connects / Vancouver BC. Buy Tickets Here
JUNE 6 - Outaouais Film Festival / Gatineau, QC. Buy Tickets Here.
JUNE 10 - Rio Theatre / Vancouver, BC. Buy Tickets Here.
JUNE 11 - Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens Association / Calgary, AB. Buy tickets here
JUNE 16-20, 25, July 4, 6 - VIFF Center / Vancouver BC. Buy Tickets Here
JUNE 18 – In Community Screening @ Cecil Community Center / Toronto, ON. (Community Invite Only)
June 20th - Chinese Community for Equitable Development CCED / Los Angeles, CA (Community Invite Only)
JUNE 23 - Rideau Curling Club / Ottawa, ON (Community Invite Only)
JULY 1-31 - Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. Watch here in Australia.
JULY 1 - TVO BROADCAST. Watch here.
JULY 3 2023 - Cinéma Sous Les Étoiles / Place Sun Yat Sen Chinatown / Montreal. QC Buy Tickets Here
July 4, 6, 20, 22, 25, 28 - VIFF Center / Vancouver BC. Buy Tickets Here
July 15, 22nd - Canada China International Film Festival / Montreal. QC Buy Tickets Here
July 16th - Markham (Canada) International Film Festival (MCIFF) / Markham ON Buy Tickets Here
July 27th - Asian American International Film Festival (AIFF) / New York, NY Buy Tickets Here
July 30th in Community Screening at Columbus Park with the W.O.W. Project / New York, NY RSVP Here
Aug 1st - In Community Screening @ City University of New York / New York, NY - Get Tickets Here
Aug 19th - Canada China International Film Festival (CIFF) / Toronto, ON - Buy Tickets here
Aug 29th & 30th - HOT DOCS Cinema / Toronto ON. (ticket link to come) Buy Tickets Here
Sept 10th - Cinémathèque Quebecois / Montreal, QC. - Get Tickets Here
Sept 14th - Patagonia Vancouver Hua Foundation Fundraiser screening / Vancouver BC. - Get Tickets Here
Sept 28 - In Community Screening with JIA Foundation @ Chinatown Reimagined Forum / Montreal. QC - Get tickets here
Oct 6th - Asian American Media Spotlight @ University of Wisconsin, Madison WI - Get Tickets Here
Oct 7th - In Community screening @ Chinese America Museum of Chicago, Chicago IL - Get Tickets Here
Nov 3rd - Carnegie Community Centre Theatre @ Heart of the City Festival / Vancouver BC - Get Tickets Here
Nov 5th - In Community Screening @ 21 Pell Street First Chinese Baptist Church, New York NY - RSVP Here
Nov 9th - In Community Screening @ Chinese Community Church Chinatown, Washington DC - Get Tickets Here
Nov 23rd - Film Screening and Discussion @ Hart House University of Toronto / Toronto, ON. - Get Tickets Here
Nov 24th - Film Screening and Discussion @ Wildfire Books / New Westminster, BC. - Get Tickets Here
Dec 7th - Ciné Club Réalisatrice Équitables @ L’Association des Réalisateurs et Réalisatrice de Québec - RSVP
JANUARY 2024
Jan 12th - In Community Screening @ Chinese Christian Church & Center's Vine Street Campus / Philapelphia, PA. RSVP HERE
Jan 26th - ReFrame Film Festival / Peterborough, ON. GET TICKETS HERE
FEBRUARY 2024
Feb 1st - Saving Places Conference / Boulder, CO REGISTER HERE
Feb 11th - Screening with Preservation Sacramento at the Sacramento Confucius Church / Sacramento, CA GET TICKETS HERE
Feb 24th - KDocsFF 2024: Journeys in Solidarity @ Vancouver International Film Centre / Vancouver, BC GET TICKETS HERE
Feb 24th - AAPLab Conference: Surface Tension: K-Arts in the Hallyu Era @ Dazibao / Montreal, QC INFO HERE
Feb 25th - In Community Screening with APIAHiP @ Chong Wa Benevolent Association / Seattle, WA RSVP HERE
Feb 26th - Speak Your Piece | Film Screening & Fireside Chat @ Corpus Christi & St. Mark's College at UBC / Vancouver, BC RSVP HERE
MARCH 2024
APRIL 2024
MAY 2024
MAY 6th - Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver BC (Details to come)
PAST SCREENINGS (2023)
Chefs from New York Chinatown’s Hop Kee Restaurant having a break.
Mei Lum, 5th-Generation Owner of Wing On Wo & Co, Manhattan Chinatown’s oldest operating storefront.
Jan Lee, Co-Founder of Neighbors United Below Canal, getting arrested during a protest against the mega jail in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
Vancouver’s Chan Family in 1968. They were the driving force behind the freeway fight in the Chinatown and Strathcona neighbourhoods. From Left to Right: Larry Chan, Mary Chan, Karen Lam, Nick Lam, Lim Hop Lee, Walter Chan, Shirley Chan.
Members of the Hon Hsing Athletic Club in Vancouver Chinatown practice an ancient dragon dance.
Ken Li outside KK Discount in NYC Chinatown
Fred Mah walking in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Fred Mah on the balcony of the Mah Association of Canada’s building on Pender Street in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Dragon dance practice at Vancouver’s Hon Hsing Athletic Club
View outside the window of Vancouver’s Kam Wai Dim sum of a gentrifying neighbourhood
William Liu, 2nd generation owner of Kam Wai Dim Sum in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Fire Dragon in Vancouver’s Chinatown
May Chiu, Chinatown Working Group Montreal
Bryant Chang, Chinese Association of Montreal
Chung Szeto and Ngan Oi Lo Ho praying in a Montreal Chinatown Buddhist temple
Long Time No See Collective in Toronto’s Chinatown
Keith Lock of the Long Time No See Collective putting up posters in Toronto’s Chinatown
Rick Wong of Toronto’s Long Time No See Collective wheat pasting posters in Chinatown
Rol San Restaurant slated for demolition in Toronto’s Chinatown
“Veggie Granny” setting up stall in Toronto’s Chinatown
Montreal Chinatown Gate swallowed by condo construction
Walter Chi-Yan Tom, Chinatown Working Group Montreal explaining the community's connection to the Wings' Noodle Building
Garnet Lee, Co-owner of Wings Noodles contemplates the future of his business
1970s archive footage of Montreal Chinatown
Montreal’s Wings Noodles the first to make bilingual fortune cookies.
Boy With Canadians Jersey during the expropriation of Montreal's Chinatown. Photo by Marik Bourdreau
PRESS
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Karen Cho (曹嘉伦) is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker known for her socio-political documentaries.
Karen’s first film In the Shadow of Gold Mountain (2004) explored the legacy of the Chinese Head Tax, Exclusion Act and redress movement.
Karen’s other films include the Gemini-Nominated Seeking Refuge (2009) a film on refugees in Canada and Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada (2012) that won Best Documentary at the Whistler Film Festival and launched in over 67 community screenings across the country.
Karen’s TV work has touched on subjects like Indigenous health and wellness, Japanese Canadian internment, Quebecois cuisine, Vancouver’s downtown east side, and artist activists around the world. In 2018 Karen was nominated for a Best Directing Canadian Screen Award for her work on CBC’s Interrupt This Program.