From Spikes to Spindles. 1976. USA. Directed by Christine Choy. DCP. In Mandarin, English; English subtitles. 46 min.
Bittersweet Survival. 1982. USA. Directed by Christine Choy. DCP. In Mandarin, English; English subtitles. 30 min.
Born in Shanghai, Christine Choy moved from South Korea to New York as a teenager and later cofounded Third World Newsreel, a distributor of socially and politically engaged films that highlight historically marginalized communities. She also became one of the most prolific documentary filmmakers in American cinema. In From Spikes to Spindles, Choy presents a rare portrait of New York’s Chinatown as generations come together to organize and protest police brutality and real-estate hostility, capturing a transcontinental history of immigration and labor. In Bittersweet Survival, Choy looks at another important yet oft-neglected piece of history, this time focusing on Southeast Asian refugees who fled the devastation of the Vietnam War and struggle to start a new life and gain acceptance in the US.