Shows & Events
Freckled Rice (preceded by Our Chinatown)

Past Event

Feb 18 | 3:30 pm

Freckled Rice Preceded byour chinatown

Stephen C. Ning, Director
Yuet- Fung Ho, Co-Producer/Assistant Director

“This beautiful, ruminative odyssey captures indelibly the trauma of generations of immigrants whose concepts of the family conflict with our free-spirited culture.”

— David Edelstein, The Village Voice

Freckled Rice is a 1983 film shot entirely in Boston’s Chinatown. In this digitally remastered lost, local classic, 13-year-old Joe Soo comes of age and to terms with his Chinese America heritage in Boston during the 1960s. This engrossing drama, full of streetwise humor and insight, gives viewers amazing glimpses of Boston as it was decades ago.

Projecting Connections: Chinese American Experiences
Using film as a lens to reflect on the vast lived experiences of the Chinese in the Greater Boston Area, this special spring series features films and post-show curated discussions designed to build and foster meaningful community conversation.

Our Chinatown

Directed by: Kenneth Eng & Curtis Chin

11 mins | Short Documentary | In English

A son of Boston’s Chinatown, Paul W. Lee, returns to help build affordable housing. Our Chinatown is a collection of short vignettes that highlight the activists who are keeping Chinatown alive.

Info

Venue

Bright Family Screening Room (BFSR)
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111

Dates

Feb 18, 2024 | 3:30 pm

Details

59 minutes

$12

All Ages

In English/Cantonese, English subtitles when Cantonese is spoken

Get Tickets

Join the Discussion

Q&A with filmmakers and community leaders following the screening.

Yuet-Fung Ho, Co-Producer/Assistant Director – Freckled Rice
Kenneth Eng, Co-Director, Our Chinatown
JP Wing, Actor Jo Soo – Freckled Rice
Paul W. Lee, Community Leader – Our Chinatown
Mary Chin, Executive Director – AACA
ACDC Youth, Community Perspective
Susan Chinsen, Moderator – ArtsEmerson/BAAFF

Join Pao Arts Center’s Lunar New Year Celebration or take in an ACDC Chinatown Walking Tour before the screening.

Artists

Stephen C. Ning, Director (1950-1989), Freckled Rice

Stephen C. Ning was a pioneering Asian American narrative filmmaker, born and grew up in Cambridge, MA and transplanted to New York in late 70s for his film career. His critically acclaimed 1983 film “Freckled Rice” had its world premiere in New York at the Asian American International Film Festival. The film was exhibited at well-known national and international film festivals including Manheim in Germany, Turin and Verona in Italy as well as in France, England, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Ann Arbor, and Carbondale, Illinois. Subsequently, the film was broadcast on US and European television. Its awards includes Film Ducat at Mannheim International Film Festival; Haig and Manoogian Award and Mobil Award for excellence in directing and filmmaking at NYU Film Festival, and the film has been having more rounds of life among film circles.

Yuet-fung Ho, Co-Producer/Assistant Director/Dialogue Coach, Freckled Rice

A Hong Kong native and a transplant in New York, she has been featuring the struggles and revelations of Chinese American experiences in film, video and radio programs. She had also held senior executive positions at companies, including CBS Inc. and the NYC Economic Development Corp, in creating and operating local and global businesses in Asia, China and United States.

With bi-cultural and bi-lingual sensitivity and perspective, Ho explores the dilemma of immigrants in defining their identity and navigating life choices in their newly adopted homeland, while facing social and political injustice, within and without their own community. She is keen on narrative, documentary and experimental formats, and her stories always contain historical facts with critical historical perspective.

Kenneth Eng, Co-Director, Our Chinatown

is a director, editor and executive producer. After graduating from Boston Latin School, Ken left for New York in 1994 to study film at the School of Visual Arts. His thesis Scratching Windows, a short documentary film about graffiti writers, was broadcast as part of the doc series REEL NY on WNET – NY PBS. In 2001, Ken directed and edited Take Me to The River a feature length documentary about the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India. Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball, his film about the famous Koshien Tournament in Japan was nationally broadcast on PBS as part of POV and continues to play in Japan on NHK-TV. In 2007, Ken was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship to launch My Life In China. Recently, he edited Tested for director Curtis Chin, and is currently collaborating with him on a film “Our Chinatown” about the challenges chinatowns across America face. Ken is also involved in “The Great China Baseball Hunt” a film about the rise of baseball in China.

Curtis Chin, Co-Director, Our Chinatown

A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant” will be published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023. His essay in Bon Appetit was just selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023.

Partners

ArtsEmerson presents Projecting Connections: Chinese-American Experiences. Using film as a lens to reflect on the vast lived experiences of the Chinese in the Greater Boston Area, this special series will feature monthly films and post-show curated discussions designed to build and foster meaningful community conversation.

New England’s Largest Asian American Film Festival
The Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF) empowers Asian Americans through film by showcasing Asian American experiences and serving as a resource to filmmakers and the Greater Boston Community. BAAFF is a co-production of Asian American Resource Workshop and ArtsEmerson.

Our mission is to celebrate and strengthen the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community of Chinatown and Greater Boston through access to culturally relevant art, education, and creative programs. Pao Arts Center functions in service of BCNC’s and BHCC’s goals to support the social well-being, economic success, and education of their constituents.

Since 1987 the Asian Community Development Corporation has created vibrant, inclusive communities by building affordable housing and preserving spaces where everyone is welcome to live, work and play. With roots in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood and a special focus on meeting the needs of low-income Asian American immigrants, ACDC serves individuals and families of all backgrounds throughout the Greater Boston area, including Malden and Quincy. ACDC empowers residents to play an important role in shaping their communities and advocating for their interests, and offers programs to guide them in building wealth and planning for their futures.

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Feb 18 | 3:30 pm

Freckled Rice Preceded byour chinatown

— David Edelstein, The Village Voice

Our Chinatown

Info

Venue

Dates

Feb 18, 2024 | 3:30 pm

Details

59 minutes

$12

All Ages

In English/Cantonese, English subtitles when Cantonese is spoken

Get Tickets

Join the Discussion

Artists

Stephen C. Ning, Director (1950-1989), Freckled Rice

Yuet-fung Ho, Co-Producer/Assistant Director/Dialogue Coach, Freckled Rice

Kenneth Eng, Co-Director, Our Chinatown

Curtis Chin, Co-Director, Our Chinatown

Partners

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Feb 18 | 3:30 pm

Freckled Rice Preceded byour chinatown

— David Edelstein, The Village Voice

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14434" src="https://artsemerson.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/logo_projectingconnections.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="50" />

Our Chinatown

Info

Venue

Dates

Feb 18, 2024 | 3:30 pm

Details

59 minutes

$12

All Ages

In English/Cantonese, English subtitles when Cantonese is spoken

Get Tickets

Join the Discussion

Artists

Stephen C. Ning, Director (1950-1989), Freckled Rice

Yuet-fung Ho, Co-Producer/Assistant Director/Dialogue Coach, Freckled Rice

Kenneth Eng, Co-Director, Our Chinatown

Curtis Chin, Co-Director, Our Chinatown

Partners

<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14434" src="https://artsemerson.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/logo_projectingconnections.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="82" />

Gallery