Film Screening: “Bluff City Chinese” (Thandi Cai, 2024)

--Thandi Cai, 2024, 47 min, USA, in English--

Introduction and post-screening discussion moderated by Professor Eileen Chow.

***Two storytellers, one community, and 150 years of untold history.***

"Bluff City Chinese" follows two Chinese-American storytellers, filmmaker Thandi Cai and Delta elder Emerald Dunn, as they uncover the untold history of Chinese immigrants in Memphis, Tennessee.

Through personal journeys, community oral histories, and archival research, the film weaves a 150-year tapestry of identity, belonging, and resilience.

Set against a backdrop of social and racial tensions, this intergenerational collaboration celebrates the power of storytelling to preserve heritage, bridge divides, and inspire unity for future generations.

About the director:

Thandi Cai (they/them), Director and Creator of "Bluff City Chinese," identifies as a storyteller of the Asian Diaspora. Cai grew up in Memphis, TN where they learned how storytelling could be used to empower themselves and others across racial, political, gender, ethnic and economic lines. Cai uses visual arts, film-making, and graphic design to begin conversations around critical dialogue. Their goal as an artist is to arouse imagination, pleasure, and improvisation to ideate new paths forward. After earning a BS in Architectural Design, they served for two years as an education volunteer for Peace Corps Lesotho until 2018. From there they were a teaching-artist, exploring the intersection of nonprofit work, art, and community organizing. In 2022, they earned an MFA in Visual Communication Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They maintain a community-centered design practice, partnering with clients such as Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, US-China Business Council, and Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden.

During the pandemic, they moved back to Memphis and met Emerald Dunn to help independently research 150 years of Chinese Memphian history. Cai created this documentary out of a desire to reveal and recover the untold truth. They say this Memphis-made film is a love letter to their younger self-and our future selves-to help heal and transcend the hurts of racial prejudice.

Cosponsors:

Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke; Duke Program in Asian American & Diaspora Studies; Screen/Society; Center for Documentary Studies