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DISORIENT 2006: 'What's Wrong With Frank Chin?'

What's Wrong With Frank Chin?
Feature
Sunday, February 19th
4:25 - 6:10 pm
Lane County Fairgrounds
$2 - $10 sliding scale
USA | 97:00 | 2005 | Documentary | Curtis Choy

In an age of cynicism and self-interest, Frank Chin dares to resurrect the concepts of honor and personal integrity, even at the expense of infamy and unsuccess. Selling out is not the goal, or even an option. Here, telling the truth is paramount.

Frank Chin is the son of an immigrant Chinese father and a fourth-generation Chinatown mother. After getting his AB in English in 1966, he became the first Chinese American brakeman on the Southern Pacific since the Chinese built the Central Pacific Railroad over the Sierras. He wrote documentaries for KING-TV in Seattle, and scripts for Sesame Street. The American Place Theatre in New York mounted The Chickencoop Chinaman in 1972, making him the first recognized Chinese-American playwright, followed later by The Year of the Dragon. He founded a theatre in San Francisco, where he directed until 1977. During this time, Chin continued to write about Chinese- and Japanese-American history and culture, literature and theatre for magazines, TV and literary journals while teaching and lecturing throughout the country. He was the main editor of Aiiieeeee!, to date the most influential anthology of Asian-American literature. The Big Aiiieeeee! went on to explore history and stereotypes. His short stories (The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco R.R. Co., 1988), novels (Donald Duk, 1991 and Gunga Din Highway, 1994), essays (Bulletproof Buddhists, 1999), and documentary novel (Born in the USA: A Story of Japanese America, 1889-1947, 2002) have been published.

Unlike conventional biographies, What's Wrong With Frank Chin does not stop within the confines of one man's personal details or the controversy raging over him during the past 30 years, but expands to explore the much larger implications of the literary, ideological and cultural changes in Asian America. Chin is arguably the father/godfather/ayatollah of modern Asian Americanism. His original and voluminous work will continue to be the subject of literary and scholarly discourse and analysis. This documentary goes a long way to ensure that succeeding generations realize the richness of their American history.

WWWFC has been in production for four years, and produced with the aid of The Rockefeller Foundation, Cherry Sky Films, cheap digital technology, and lots of gas.
- Curtis Choy