Curtis Choy

Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.

A man is hired by a group of people he believes to be gangsters to escort a briefcase from America to Hong Kong. When he arrives, however, his contact is nowhere to be found. With no further instructions, he decides to take in the sights of Hong Kong, which consist of him taking part in a great deal of blood, sex and general weirdness, all while wearing a briefcase handcuffed to his arm.

San Francisco's Richmond District. A widow welcomes the Chinese New Year. 62 years old, she wants to make a trip to China to pay last respects to her ancestors. A fortune teller has told her this is the year she'll die, and a daughter, Geraldine, remains unmarried. Geraldine's boyfriend lives in Los Angeles and she's not sure she's ready for marriage, nor does she want to leave her mother alone in her declining years. Mrs. Tan's cheerful brother-in-law, Uncle Tam, tries to help out.

A group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors enjoy a power trip when they dip into extra-curricular criminal activities.

Filipino-American high school student Ben (Dante Basco) works in a comic book shop to earn money to pay his way into Cal Arts. His father, a postman, is determined that his son--who has won a pre-med scholarship to UCLA--will become a doctor. The eighteenth birthday party of Ben's sister, Rose, sets off a comedic and touching series of events and family struggles that will in turn determine young Ben's future. This fresh independent production from Gene Cajayon presents a lighthearted and warm coming-of-age tale filtered through the eyes of an American subculture rarely seen on film.

Two cabbies search San Francisco's Chinatown for a mysterious character who has disappeared with their $4000. Their quest leads them on a humorous, if mundane, journey which illuminates the many problems experienced by Chinese-Americans trying to assimilate into contemporary American society.

The Fall of the I-Hotel brings to life the battle for housing in San Francisco. The brutal eviction of the International Hotel's tenants culminated a decade of spirited resistance to the razing of Manilatown. The Fall of the I-Hotel works on several levels. It not only documents the struggle to save the I-Hotel, but also gives an overview of Filipino American history.

A highly-critical documentary about the history of Asian-American actresses in Hollywood. Features interviews with pioneering Asian-American actresses and clips from classic films, such as "The Thief of Bagdad," "The Good Earth" and "The World of Suzie Wong," interspersed with Asian/feminist sociological commentary.

In this psychological drama, Sam (Richard Panebianco) has come to work on a dairy farm in Marin, California. He had been living in New York, but found himself tormented with terrible nightmares. On the farm he works closely with his friend Danny. Not long after his arrival, Sam gets in trouble with Robert, the owner. He is also in trouble with Danny's daughter, Rosie who wanted the job Sam filled. The trouble with the owner comes when Sam begins trying to save poor Rachel, the dairyman's daughter whom Robert keeps locked in the house. Thinking she is being abused, Sam talks to her. She shows her gratitude sexually. Now Sam becomes even more determined to save her. Unfortunately, Rachel isn't as much abused as she is dangerously unstable.

Chronicles the Mississippi voter registration drive from 1961-1964.

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock, ‘Bird by Bird with Annie’ offers an intimate portrait of a writer and her craft, interweaving the story of Anne Lamott's life—in itself a deeply moving tale of addiction and redemption, grief and joy, intellect and faith—with a year's worth of interviews, public lectures, and footage of the writer at work, focusing particularly on Lamott's candid, humorous, and disarmingly straightforward advice on the struggles and joys of writing. The author's reassurance and guidance concerning the process of writing—which has little resemblance to its glorified image—becomes a stirring call to action celebrating the potential of each individual, the silencing of our inner critics, and the courage to create something honest and meaningful. Poignant and inspirational, ‘Bird by Bird with Annie’ takes us deep into Anne Lamott's intoxicatingly brave world, one in which writing is a means of finding out who we are, how we live, and why we're here.

A documentary about the making of Wayne Wang's 1982 film CHAN IS MISSING, featuring interviews with the cast and crew.

On February 4, 1974, the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. A month later, SLA members and Hearst robbed a bank in San Francisco. After the telecast shootout with police in Los Angeles, two remaining SLA members and Hearst fled to rural Pennsylvania, where they met Wendy Yoshimura. Wendy was eluding authorities who had indicted her on weapons and explosives charges in 1972. After 3 years on the run, Wendy was captured with Hearst in a San Francisco apartment, where the FBI threatened to "blow Wendy's head off". She was kept in isolation for 40 days, then jailed for 3 months until the Wendy Yoshimura Fair Trial Committee came to her aid.

This documentary brings to the public, for the first time, a story that was classified as secret by the US government for over four decades. Exploring the roots and legacy of the Cold War on the Chinese American community during the 1950s and the 1960s, it presents first hand accounts of seven men and women's experiences of being hunted down, jailed and targeted for deportation in America.

WHO WE ARE forms the unifying theme of "Dupont Guy". It affirms the legitimacy of Chinese-American (nee Chonk) culture, exploring cross cultural currents of San Francisco's Chinatown: assimilation, self-contempt, schizophrenic language, duplicitous behavior.

This insightful documentary explores the life of Frank Chin, the godfather of modern Asian Americanism. Taking a look at his own story and the many controversies raging over him during the past thirty years, the film reveals the much larger implications of the literary, ideological and cultural changes taking place in Asian America.

A collection of film clips of what would become Curtis Choy’s seminal documentary The Fall of the I-Hotel. This work-in-progress documentary includes In-depth interviews with Manongs – an Illocano term of respect for elders – and community leaders as they fought to stop the mass eviction of Asian American elders from the International Hotel and the destruction of San Francisco’s Manilatown.

The Hawaiian people have a rich historical and cultural tradition. Their values, art, music, gods and legends reach back thousands of years to ancient Polynesia, where they lived before sailing to the islands we know as Hawai‘'i. Recently, there have been efforts to revitalize these traditions and teach them to young Hawaiians. Hawai'i: Continuing Traditions looks at ways in which the “"spirit of the land" lives today, as we explore special places, where old ways are thriving in the modern world. Visit a working taro plantation in Maui and an isolated fishing village on the isalnd of Hawai‘'i. Discover how a small community in Kaua‘'i creates beautiful shell necklaces, and voyage back in time on an ancient Polynesian sailing canoe.