“A deep and personal portrait of a neighborhood and the activists who helped shape it.” -San Francisco Chronicle

“Revelatory.” -The Globe and Mail

“an intimate look at the role Chinatown plays in the history of San Francisco.” -Fox KTVU

About the film

Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1960s, a young San Francisco Chinatown resident armed with a 16mm camera and leftover film scraps from a local TV station, turned his lens onto his community. Totaling more than 20,000 feet of film (10 hours), Harry Chuck's exquisite unreleased footage has captured a divided community's struggles for self-determination. Chinatown Rising is a documentary film about the Asian American Movement from the perspective of the young residents on the front lines of their historic neighborhood in transition. Through publicly challenging the conservative views of their elders, their demonstrations and protests of the 1960s-1980s rattled the once quiet streets during the community’s shift in power. Forty-five years later, in intimate interviews these activists recall their roles and experiences in response to the need for social change.

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The Team

HARRY CHUCK
Co-Director, Producer, Director of Photography

Former Youth Director and later Executive Director of Cameron House, Harry was an early mentor for thousands of Chinatown youth. Harry was the catalyst in Chinatown’s fight to save the Chinese Playground from being developed into a parking garage, leading to the formation of the Committee for Better Parks and Recreation in Chinatown.  He was co-founder of the Chinatown Coalition for Better Housing, which led the fight to develop the Mei Lun Yuen affordable housing project. He was appointed by five separate mayors to city commissions, which included the Public Housing Authority and Juvenile Justice Commission. Harry was one of the first Asian American religious leaders to speak out for same-sex marriage. In 1981, he earned his MA from the SF State University’s Film Arts Department where he served as a student assistant in film history. His footage for this film was shot as a student/activist and Chinatown Rising is his official return to filmmaking.

JOSH CHUCK
Co-Director, Producer

Josh grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown and has worked in the community for over 25 years as a youth worker, filmmaker, and fundraiser. He has produced, shot and edited short films, mostly sharing the stories of individuals who symbolize the rich diversity of the city, as well as organizations advocating for the needs of the underserved. He currently directs the UPS Community Internship in San Francisco, an intensive community immersion program for UPS Upper Management, which focuses on the Chinatown, Tenderloin, and Bayview neighborhoods. Chinatown Rising is Josh’s first feature film.

JAMES Q. CHAN
Producer

James Q. Chan is an Emmy-nominated director and producer based in San Francisco. His film training/mentorship began alongside two-time Academy-Award winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK; COMMON THREADS). Producing credits with Epstein & Friedman include History Channel’s 10 DAYS THAT UNEXPECTEDLY CHANGED AMERICA (Emmy® Award; Outstanding Non-Fiction Series), HOWL (Sundance Opening Night; National Board of Review Freedom of Expression Award). Other producing credits include :PUCK AND THE RIDDLE OF CODES (IDFA; Dutch Television VPRO); ISTINMA (Best Short, American Indian Film Festival; Smithsonian Native Showcase); ENTRY DENIED (Jury Award, Best Short, Provincetown); RIGHT DOWN THE LINE music video for Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-Award winning album “Slipstream”. Prior to filmmaking, James worked as a SAG/AFTRA Talent Agent in San Francisco.

James directed and produced the Emmy® Award nominated documentary FOREVER, CHINATOWN (Best Cinematography, Los Angeles Pacific Film Festival) a meditation on memory and community seen through the lens of an aging artist’s miniature dioramas of his childhood Chinatown. The film received multiple festival audience and jury awards, a national public television broadcast on PBS/World Channel and was selected for the American Film Showcase, the premier film diplomacy program between US State Department and USC School of Cinematic Arts where James served as an envoy to Turkmenistan in 2018. James is the founder of Good Medicine Picture Company and is a recipient of a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for his work in amplifying stories from the APA community, immigrant voices, and tenant struggles. James is a member of the Directors Guild of America.

GREG LOUIE
Editor

Greg is currently a Video Editor and Producer based out of Culver City.  He has also been the lead editor on several films, including UNDOING and FINISHING THE GAME (directed by Justin Lin and premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival), LINSANITY, (directed by Evan Jackson Leong and premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival), and SNAKEHEAD, (directorial narrative feature debut of Evan Jackson Leong).  Greg has over 20 years experience editing with 15 years of experience editing live sports television.

ANSON HO
Director of Photography

Anson is a San Francisco native rooted in the Chinatown community. While serving in the US Navy he found his passion in film and tv when he produced and filmed his own closed circuit television show on his naval ship, USS OLDENDORF. He followed his passion by moving to Los Angeles and worked on various short films, music videos and documentary projects. Notable projects included sundance film FINISHING THE GAME as an associated producer and thereafter worked on Universal's Studio FAST & FURIOUS as an assistant to the director both directed by Justin Lin. He also help develop and film numerous webseries and comedy sketches on a Youtube Asian American channel called YOMYOMF which gained over 35 million views within a year. As a traveling cinematographer, he's filmed documentaries all over China, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Mt Everest base camp. He was the 1st Assistant Director on the feature film SNAKEHEAD and currently works as Acting Production Supervisor/Producer for SF Government TV (SFGovTV).

MILES ITO
Composer

Award-winning Film, TV, Video Game and Media music composer, Miles Ito, grew up in Los Angeles. Over the past decade, he has scored, recorded, and produced soundtracks and albums for dozens of feature films, commercials, shorts, TV and web series, artists, and video games across multiple genres and platforms. Miles is currently nominated for "Best Original Score" with the 10th annual Indie Series Awards for his work with "After," and he recently composed the score for the critically acclaimed Sundance short, "American Paradise."  He won "Best Original Score" at the 8th annual Indie Series Awards ceremony for his music score for "Here We Wait" and was also nominated for "Best Original Score" for the ISA9 Awards, "Best Original Music" by the International Academy of Web Television Awards 2017, and "Best Original Score" in the Die Seriale Festival 2017.  

Miles was a participant in the prestigious NYU/ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop in 2015 where he composed, conducted, and recorded his music with members of the NY Philharmonic and received mentoring from award-winning film composers such as: Mark Snow (X-Files), Sean Callery (24, Homeland, The Kennedy's), Ira Newborn (Ace Ventura, Naked Gun 2 1/2, Sixteen Candles), Paul Chihara (China Beach), and Mark Suozzo. Miles is a composer-in-training and teacher of Music Interval Theory (MIT) with Thomas Chase Jones (Batman, Gummy Bears, Powerpuff Girls, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scooby-Doo, Dexter) and studied film music composition with Christopher Young (Spiderman 3, The Grudge 1&2, The Exorcist, Ghost Rider) and arranging and orchestration with Nan Schwartz and the legendary Conrad Pope (Harry Potter, Hobbit, Star Wars, Argo, Life of Pi, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean). Miles holds degrees from UCLA, Arizona State University, and Berklee College of Music in Film and TV Music Composition and Orchestration. Miles Ito's music and versatile style is unique and highly engaging. His music can sweep you from the sweet calm of a mid-summer's day to an instance of relentless heart-aching passion and yearning.

CORRINA HUI
Education Specialist

Corrina Hui designs and facilitates collaboration and creativity with youth, artists, educators, nonprofit organizations, and school districts across the country. She designed a middle school math program (corrinahui.com) that was internationally recognized for engaging experiences that integrated math with social justice, art, and making in the 21st century shop (with wood, metal, 3-D printers, and laser cutters). The Agency by Design initiative at Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero featured her work in their book, Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape Their Worlds. Corrina also helped design and build a new high school model rooted in equity and creativity that was incubated at the Stanford University d.school K12 lab as the founding systemic equity designer of design school x (DSX).

As a first-generation Chinese-American born and raised in San Francisco, Corrina was so excited when she first saw Chinatown Rising. As an educator who has dedicated her career to re-imagining and building new learning experiences, schools, and systems centering students’ needs, she believes that the stories in Chinatown Rising should be shared with our students. The Asian-American story is missing from many United States classrooms. While interest in teaching Asian-American history is growing, it is still a challenge to compile and curate resources and innovative curriculum ideas because the history of Asian America has been excluded, erased, and made invisible. Corrina is thrilled to join the Chinatown Rising team to support educators with creative approaches to this challenge, bringing her experience with building innovative projects grounded in social justice, specifically designed to invite and empower our most marginalized students. Together, we hope to extend the impact of the film into our communities in partnership with you, using the themes and history featured in the film to inspire and empower activism today! 

CHRISTINA HOANG
Post-Production Supervisor, Marketing Director

Christina Hoang was born and raised in Northern Virginia and moved to Los Angeles 12 years ago to pursue a career in Producing. She has since worked for E! Entertainment, WB, ABC, CBS, and various indie films, web series, and corporate videos. Utilizing her storytelling ability from her entertainment background, Christina has been able to connect communities with the brands that matter to them in the Marketing world.  She joins Chinatown Rising as their Post-Production Supervisor and Marketing Director, combining both her professional expertise and personal passion to share and promote Asian American stories.