5.25.2009

hollywood chinese airing on pbs this week

Check your schedules, make our plans, set your Tivos... Arthur Dong's brilliant showbiz documentary Hollywood Chinese will be airing on public television starting this Wednesday, May 27 as part of PBS' American Masters series. Check your local listings for the exact airdate.

The 90-minute documentary is candid exploration of race issues in Hollywood, with old footage and interviews from the likes of Nancy Kwan, Joan Chen, James Hong, David Henry Hwang and Ang Lee, talking about the long history and future of Chinese talent in the movies.

For film buffs, and folks who are interested in the way Asian are depicted in mainstream media, Hollywood Chinese is both a delight and an important lesson on how far back this tricky game really goes. Here's an interesting article on the documentary from the Washington Post: A Chinese Legacy in Tinseltown.

And for those of you in the Bay Area, you can catch both Hollywood Chinese and Jeff Adachi's Slanted Screen airing on KQED back-to-back on Wednesday night. There will also be repeat airings of both films, so check the schedule carefully.

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