As a blistering day faded into evening last week, a group of film students sat in folding chairs eating takeout by the Chinatown gate. Nearby, a group of elderly women chatted in Cantonese, disrupted by yells from a raucous game of tag. It was the final night of Films at the Gate, the film series that brings Chinatown locals and kung fu film lovers together from across the city to celebrate and revitalize the area’s history of community through film.
Beginning in cinema’s Depression era heyday, three movie theaters competed for the attention of Chinatown moviegoers: the Pagoda on Washington Street, Star Cinema on Essex, and China Cinema on Beach showed the newest Hong Kong action flicks, often to over-packed houses. Children played in the aisles, and neighbors gossiped in the lobby. After the rise of the VCR in the 1980s, however, this tradition died out.
That is, until five years ago, when Leslie and Sam Davol of the nonprofit Boston Street Lab teamed up with Jean Lukitsh, a former Chinatown projectionist, and Jeremy Liu, then with the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC). Together they conceived of a film series that would revive the lost traditions, showing kung fu classics in a vacant lot near the Chinatown gate. The series grew by the year and has become a great success, drawing 200-300 viewers a night.
This year’s iteration incorporated familiar elements and experiments alike. Thursday and Friday nights featured kung fu hits on the customary ‘lot’—1978 classic “Drunken Master,” with a young Jackie Chan and “Bodyguards and Assassins,” the 2009 action romp featuring famous Bostonian Donnie Yen. In contrast, Saturday’s animated classic “Havoc in Heaven” and Sunday’s “Children of Invention,” a 2009 English-language indie darling shot largely in Quincy and Chinatown, were shown at a new site on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and took the series in a different direction cinematically.
This year’s series featured additional cultural performances before the films, including tai chi and kung fu performances by the Bow Sim Mark and Wah Lum Kung Fu associations and a lion dance by Gund Kwok, the only women’s lion and dragon dance troop in the US. Walking tours led by teens from AVOYCE, a youth offshoot of the ACDC, offered visitors a glimpse into the history and everyday culture of Chinatown.
Lukitsh, who curates Films at the Gate, is optimistic about the reception of these changes. “[Sunday] night I was sitting near a group of older Chinese women, and I don’t think any of them spoke English. But they came to [“Children of Invention”], anyway. They got excited when they saw the scenery on 93 South, the bits in Chinatown and Downtown Crossing. They were really intent on the movie, although I’m not sure how much of the dialogue they understood. That part of the community will still come and see a movie and enjoy it, even if it’s not traditional Chinese entertainment. One third to one half of our audience is people who live within a couple blocks.”
For Lukitsh and her partners, Films at the Gate is more than just a few movies once a year. According to the organization’s website, the minds behind the series hope to “improve awareness of Boston’s Chinatown as a site of cultural activity” and strengthen Chinatown bonds by restoring “a tradition of shared, public experience of Chinese-language films.”
It’s working. “There are a lot of older people that seem to really enjoy doing something that’s right within walking distance and where they live. They can hang out with their friends, it’s all free, and they get to see great movies,” Lukitsh said.
The positive response is not limited to the elderly. AVOYCE tour guides Kelly Lee and Samantha Huang spoke in support of the series. “There’s not a lot of Asians in Stoughton [where I’m from], so coming here is crazy. It’s great,” said Lee, 16.
Huang, 17, who lives in Chinatown, added, “I really think it’s helped build community. When I talk to other residents they all say, ‘Oh, we’re going to Films at the Gate tonight.’”
Alissa Greenberg is a Sampan correspondent.