LOVE, CHINATOWN
2024 · 18m · USA
Directed by Lukas Dong
Genres: documentary
Tones: melancholic, tender
Lifelong Boston Chinatown resident Cynthia Yee takes bright-eyed undergrad Gwen Liu on an open-hearted walking tour of the historic neighborhood, confronting past trauma and celebrating community resilience as Chinatowns worldwide face displacement.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
GBH-produced doc about an octogenarian Chinatown activist and a college student — sincere, well-meaning, and structurally a public-television comfort watch. Nothing here surprises me.
An intergenerational walking tour in the Varda mode of Faces Places, with Cynthia Yee's octogenarian advocacy as the spine — the GBH provenance suggests strong civic craft rather than formal experimentation. A worthy document of a vanishing community on its own terms.
GBH-produced walking-tour doc with Cynthia Yee leading an undergrad through Boston Chinatown — the intergenerational two-hander format with a real activist subject is hard to fake. 18:37 and 63K views suggests it's connecting beyond the festival circuit.
Reviews
A beautiful love letter to Chinatown, and the people that make it special.
The film unfolds into something broader and more resonant: a poignant exploration of community, resilience, and the Asian-American experience.
Festivals
- Boston Asian American Film Festival 2025, Audience Award