Documentaries by Christine Choy
4 Episodes
An electrifying activist spirit runs through the work of Chinese American documentarian Christine Choy, an Oscar nominee who has been using her camera to shed light on hidden social histories and injustices for nearly fifty years. Whether tracing the evolution of Chinese American labor organizing (FROM SPIKES TO SPINDLES) or exposing the devastating legacy of American imperialism (BITTERSWEET SURVIVAL), Choy pursues truth with an uncompromising fearlessness that has the power to reorient her viewers’ understanding of the world.
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45:30Episode 1From Spikes to Spindles
Episode 1
Directed by Christine Choy • 1976 • United States
This raw, gutsy portrait of New York’s Chinatown captures the early days of an emerging consciousness in the community. We see a Chinatown rarely depicted, a vibrant community whose young and old join forces to protest police brutality and hostil...
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20:58Episode 2Inside Women Inside
Episode 2
Directed by Christine Choy and Cynthia Maurizio • 1978 • United States
Christine Choy and Cynthia Maurizio offer a rare look at the degradation faced by women in prison, interviewing women who suffer daily within a system that disregards their humanity and neglects their basic needs.
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27:05Episode 3Bittersweet Survival
Episode 3
Directed by J. T. Takagi and Christine Choy • 1982 • United States
This documentary examines the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees in the United States in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. The film begins with a montage of riveting footage depicting the devastating effects of the war. It ...
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55:15Episode 4Homes Apart: Korea
Episode 4
Directed by J. T. Takagi and Christine Choy • 1991 • United States, South Korea
They speak the same language, share a similar culture, and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in a stalemate in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early nineties, as the rest ...