Episode 268: Filmmaker Karen Cho on the battle for Chinatown

What is Chinatown? That question and the myriad of emotions it invites sit at the heart of Big Fight in Little Chinatown, the stirring documentary film from Montreal-based filmmaker Karen Cho. The film explores the battles for survival currently being waged in four Chinatowns: in Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Vancouver. We meet the stewards of these Chinatowns, consider the role that Chinatown plays in building and sustaining community, and bear witness to the destructive power of urban development and its relationship to anti-Asian racism. As one of Karen’s interview subjects says in the film, “Are these neighborhoods that should be put under glass, or are these neighborhoods that should be able to grow and thrive and change?” Big Fight in Little Chinatown opens the DOXA Documentary Film Festival on May 4, where it will screen a mere stone’s throw away from Vancouver’s Chinatown, and will also enjoy a series of community screenings across the country. In this contemplative interview, filmmaker Karen Cho discusses her deeply personal journey with Big Fight in Little Chinatown, and why Chinatowns everywhere are worth the fight. Episode Sponsors: Biz Books + The Drama Class