'The Chinese Exclusion Act': Film Screening at The Seattle Public Library Oct. 9
release date: October 4, 2017
Catch an early excerpt of "The Chinese Exclusion Act" at The Seattle Public Library before it airs in its entirety on PBS! Historian and author Erika Lee, who appears in the film, will be on hand to connect history with contemporary issues after the screening. The screening will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9 at the Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium, 206-386-4636.
Library events are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. Parking is available in the Central Library garage for $6 after 5 p.m.
This film documents the events leading to, causes of, consequences and continuing impact of The Chinese Exclusion Act-the only federal legislation in United States history to single out and name a specific race and nationality for exclusion from immigration and citizenship. The documentary will premiere on the PBS series "American Experience."
"The Chinese Exclusion Act" is a PBS documentary by award-winning filmmakers Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu of Steeplechase Films and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). It is co-produced by CAAM, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and American Experience.
Burns is a six-time Emmy Award-winning director who has been creating historical documentaries for public television for over 20 years. He began his career co-writing and producing the PBS series "The Civil War" with his brother Ken and Geoffrey C. Ward, and has since directed over 30 hours of award-winning films, including "America Ballet Theatre: A History," "Debt of Honor" and "The Pilgrims." Burns was educated at Columbia University and Cambridge University. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.
Lee is the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants who entered the United States through both Angel Island and Ellis Island. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. She teaches history at the University of Minnesota, where she is also the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History and Director of the Immigration History Research Center.
Yu, a New York-based film editor and co-director of "the Chinese Exclusive Act," has collaborated with Burns for the past 23 years. Yu and Burns are best known for their epic series "New York" and their films have garnered multiple awards, including Emmys, Peabodys, Writer's Guild of America and duPont-Columbia. Yu began her career collaborating with other New York independent filmmakers including Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Sara Driver and Peter Wang and more recently with documentarians Christine Choy, Bill Moyers, Thomas Lennon and Stanley Nelson.