The film High voltage in Chinatown, presented as part of the International Documentary Meetings of Montreal (RIDM), shines the spotlight on North American Chinatowns, including Montreal, strangled and eroded by waves of urban development. Resiliently, their residents struggle to retain the soul of these historic areas.
Often centenarians, even multicentenarians, Chinatowns fascinate and intrigue. Beyond the tourist veneer that some associate with them, there is a community transmitting family, gastronomic, cultural and ritual traditions from generation to generation. There is also concern, highlighted by Montreal director Karen Cho, who slipped her camera behind the facades of businesses and residences in these sectors that often have the status of cornerstone of large cities.
Frothing New York, Vancouver and Montreal, among others, she tells us how ever taller concrete towers, in the form of luxury condos or public and private infrastructures, threaten the balance and social harmony of these areas; and how local communities are mobilizing to try to preserve their authenticity. In the Quebec metropolis, Chinatown has thus gradually found itself in the shadow of office complexes and towers, with new constructions having also sprouted in recent years. In New York, the project of a gigantic prison in the heart of Chinatown has locked up the inhabitants under the locks of anguish and revolt.
PHOTO JOSHUA FRANK, SUPPLIED BY THE PRODUCTION
North American Chinatowns are the cradle of practices and traditions to which residents are very attached. Here, the dragon dance performed by the Hon Hsing club of Vancouver.
Facing these planes of bricks and steel, High voltage in Chinatown presents the members of this community in flesh and blood, deeply attached to their neighborhoods suffocated by frantic developments. Restaurateurs, merchants, places of worship, traditional celebrations: we discover a host of destinies, family and personal stories, built and transmitted over generations, topped by the desire to preserve the authenticity of this living environment.
Even if they stand out for their own characteristics (the shops and services of New York are highly developed, while tourist shops have proliferated in Montreal), the North American Chinatowns presented in the documentary all share the same concern . “All face great pressures of gentrification and erosion, with luxury or government condo projects, such as a huge prison or the REM in Montreal, for which there is no consultation with the community before their achievement”, laments Karen Cho, whose great-grandfather had settled in Montreal in 1898.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PRODUCTION
Director Karen Cho
The documentary also tackles the wave of COVID-19, which has hit an already fragile community hard, causing stigma, vandalism and economic slump.
We come to wonder if these neighborhoods will survive the 21ste century… For the director, they will not lower the flag, strong in a longevity that sometimes spans nearly 200 years, but will continue to face intense assaults.
They will survive because there are ties in the community and these places have a soul for us.
Karen Cho, director of High voltage in Chinatown
After the material, the immaterial
A portion of the film deals with the battle and the mobilization of residents to obtain protection status, particularly in Montreal, when the historic block of the neighborhood was coveted. After consultations, an action plan was established by the City in 2021, and the Ministry of Culture granted this year the status of historical institutional core.
“There was a lot of effort, but it happens at midnight minus one. A lot of concerns were raised about the historic block of Wings: we thought that if it became luxury condos, the neighborhood would be lost,” reports Ms.me Cho, who specifies that other milestones will be necessary.
PHOTO NAOMI MIZOGOUCHI, SUPPLIED BY THE PRODUCTION
Jan Lee, co-founder of the citizens’ group Neighbors United Against Canal, was arrested during a demonstration against the project of a prison in New York’s Chinatown.
“Heritage status is just a step, it protects the facade of a building, but you need mechanisms to protect the intangible culture. There are very important gathering places for different generations. If we lose these activities and links, this also contributes to the erasure of the neighborhood. We also need programs for the retention of family businesses and authentic businesses, that the neighborhood and taxes remain affordable. »
Big Fight in Little Chinatown is presented at the Cineplex Odéon in the Latin Quarter on November 24 at 8:15 p.m. (English subtitles) and at the Cinéma du Parc on November 26 at 1:15 p.m. (French subtitles).