Watch both films in our Film Catalog (available 7/16 through 7/18) prior to the Q&A Livestream. Enter the chat here or feel free to email questions in advance to melanie@workersuniteff.org.
Synopsis (Who Killed Vincent Chin?):
Vincent Chin, a successful engineer living out his dream of designing automobiles in Detroit, meets an unexpected and violent end when he is assaulted and killed by two men in the summer of 1982, following an altercation at a bar. Despite their bloody crime, the assailants initially receive lenient sentences due to a plea bargain. The troubling outcome of the case outrages civil rights advocates, who fight for justice and struggle to prove that Chin's attackers had racist motivations. This documentary was nominated for an Academy Award.
Synopsis (Complicit):
Yi Yeting, a migrant worker with occupational leukemia, decides to help others poisoned by benzene and n-hexane making smartphones. He brings his fight against benzene from his hospital room to Silicon Valley and the international stage. Against huge odds, Yi directly confronts corporate and government interests, while empowering and inspiring the people around him. COMPLICIT was filmed over 3 years in China’s electronics zones Shenzhen and Guangzhou with lush cinematography and unique access. http://www.complicitfilm.org/
CHRISTINE CHOY (Director, 'Who Killed Vincent Chin?') - Trained as an architect, Christine received her Masters of Science degree from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. Later, a Directing Certificate from the American Film Institute. Choy is a full-time professor at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, serving as Chair of the Graduate Film/TV Program from 1994 to 1997 and again from 2002 to 2005. She also taught at Yale and Cornell Universities, as well as SUNY Buffalo, and was a visiting scholar at Evergreen State College in Oslo and Volda Film Institute in Norway.
Choy has made more than 85 films, received over 60 international awards including an Oscar Nomination, and was a recipient of numerous fellowships (John Simon Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Asian Cultural Council, Fulbright Senior Research), as well as an award for Best Cinematography at the Sundance International Film Festival.
Christine is an educator and a creative artist. A pioneer Asian American filmmaker, she has produced/directed/photographed works in various forms, many of which have been broadcast on HBO, PBS, Sundance Channel, Lifetime, NHK, and other stations. Her work has also been featured at Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, Hong Kong, and Pusan International film festivals, as well as the Asian American International Festival in San Francisco, L.A., and New York.
Choy is the founding director of Third World Newsreel and the School of Creative Media (City University of Hong Kong), and a member of the Project Vetting committee of the Film Development Fund in Hong Kong, and an International Trustee Member of the Asia Society from 1995 to 2002. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States of America.
HEATHER WHITE (Director/Producer, 'COMPLICIT') - Heather White is a documentary filmmaker and non-profit founder (www.verite.org) with 20 years experience investigating supply chain impacts on labor and human rights issues.
COMPLICIT won nine international film festival awards and Best Documentary at the Workers Unite Film Festival in 2018.
Heather is a former Network Fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond Safra Center for Ethics. Verité is a global non-profit organization, monitoring factories in 60 countries, and a recipient of numerous awards for leadership and innovation.
Modern Slavery (3 min)
VIRGINIA RODINO (Moderator) - Virginia is the Maryland Chapter President of the Asian-Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA).
This event is co-sponsored by the UCLA Labor Center, AALDEF, APALA (Maryland, Michigan, and D.C.), DC Labor Film Fest, and Labor 411 / Labor 411 Foundation.
Watch both films in our Film Catalog (available 7/16 through 7/18) prior to the Q&A Livestream. Enter the chat here or feel free to email questions in advance to melanie@workersuniteff.org.
Synopsis (Who Killed Vincent Chin?):
Vincent Chin, a successful engineer living out his dream of designing automobiles in Detroit, meets an unexpected and violent end when he is assaulted and killed by two men in the summer of 1982, following an altercation at a bar. Despite their bloody crime, the assailants initially receive lenient sentences due to a plea bargain. The troubling outcome of the case outrages civil rights advocates, who fight for justice and struggle to prove that Chin's attackers had racist motivations. This documentary was nominated for an Academy Award.
Synopsis (Complicit):
Yi Yeting, a migrant worker with occupational leukemia, decides to help others poisoned by benzene and n-hexane making smartphones. He brings his fight against benzene from his hospital room to Silicon Valley and the international stage. Against huge odds, Yi directly confronts corporate and government interests, while empowering and inspiring the people around him. COMPLICIT was filmed over 3 years in China’s electronics zones Shenzhen and Guangzhou with lush cinematography and unique access. http://www.complicitfilm.org/
CHRISTINE CHOY (Director, 'Who Killed Vincent Chin?') - Trained as an architect, Christine received her Masters of Science degree from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. Later, a Directing Certificate from the American Film Institute. Choy is a full-time professor at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, serving as Chair of the Graduate Film/TV Program from 1994 to 1997 and again from 2002 to 2005. She also taught at Yale and Cornell Universities, as well as SUNY Buffalo, and was a visiting scholar at Evergreen State College in Oslo and Volda Film Institute in Norway.
Choy has made more than 85 films, received over 60 international awards including an Oscar Nomination, and was a recipient of numerous fellowships (John Simon Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Asian Cultural Council, Fulbright Senior Research), as well as an award for Best Cinematography at the Sundance International Film Festival.
Christine is an educator and a creative artist. A pioneer Asian American filmmaker, she has produced/directed/photographed works in various forms, many of which have been broadcast on HBO, PBS, Sundance Channel, Lifetime, NHK, and other stations. Her work has also been featured at Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, Hong Kong, and Pusan International film festivals, as well as the Asian American International Festival in San Francisco, L.A., and New York.
Choy is the founding director of Third World Newsreel and the School of Creative Media (City University of Hong Kong), and a member of the Project Vetting committee of the Film Development Fund in Hong Kong, and an International Trustee Member of the Asia Society from 1995 to 2002. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States of America.
HEATHER WHITE (Director/Producer, 'COMPLICIT') - Heather White is a documentary filmmaker and non-profit founder (www.verite.org) with 20 years experience investigating supply chain impacts on labor and human rights issues.
COMPLICIT won nine international film festival awards and Best Documentary at the Workers Unite Film Festival in 2018.
Heather is a former Network Fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond Safra Center for Ethics. Verité is a global non-profit organization, monitoring factories in 60 countries, and a recipient of numerous awards for leadership and innovation.
Modern Slavery (3 min)
VIRGINIA RODINO (Moderator) - Virginia is the Maryland Chapter President of the Asian-Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA).
This event is co-sponsored by the UCLA Labor Center, AALDEF, APALA (Maryland, Michigan, and D.C.), DC Labor Film Fest, and Labor 411 / Labor 411 Foundation.