Documentary History of NYC’s Chinatown

of New York City’s most enduring neighborhoods. A Community Takes Root explores how Chinese immigrants built communal life in the early twentieth century and nurtured a new generation of leaders in Chinatown. The Shape of Belonging examines the transformative years following the 1965 Immigration Act, when new arrivals—including immigrants from Fujian—expanded Chinatown beyond its historic borders and reshaped ideas of community, prosperity, and identity in neighborhoods such as Sunset Park, Flushing, and Elmhurst.Following the screening, producers Andrew Chow Guidone and Joy Lau will join Rev. Bayer Lee, pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church, and Angela Li, president of OCA-NY, both featured in the series, for a conversation. Together, they will reflect on the process of documenting Chinatown’s layered histories and the urgency of preserving stories that too often go untold.