9-Man | |
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![]() Official poster | |
Directed by | Ursula Liang |
Produced by | Ursula Liang |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Ursula Liang |
Edited by | Michelle Chang |
Music by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
Countries | United States Canada |
Languages | English Chinese |
9-Man is a 2014 American documentary film about the sport 9-man played in Chinatowns in the U.S. and Canada. [1] The New York Times called it "an absorbing documentary." [2]
The film, which had its world premiere at IFFBoston on April 27, 2014, [3] won six film festival awards [4] and was broadcast on the PBS World Channel series America ReFramed on May 5, 2015 and January 24, 2017. [5] The film, which follows the all-male [6] sport of 9-man, was produced by a largely female crew, led by first-time director Ursula Liang and editor Michelle Chang. [7] [8] Featured in the film are U.S. volleyball Olympian and NBC commentator Kevin Wong [9] [10] and Chinatown historian John Kuo Wei Tchen. 9-Man also features the now deceased "mayor" of Boston's Chinatown, Reggie Wong, who was a leader in the 9-man community. [11]
9-Man was part of the SkyFest series on Virgin America airlines in the summer of 2015. [12]
The music for the film was written by Adam Rubenstein and Scott CHOPS Jung, the pioneering Chinese-American hip-hop producer and member of Mountain Brothers. [13]
The documentary follows several modern-day 9-man teams throughout one season framed by a historical portrait of Chinatown history and the game of 9-man. The first act of the film introduces the Boston Knights, Washington CYC (Chinese Youth Club), Toronto Connex, and the Boston Freemasons as they begin the season preparing for competition with other teams. As the first act closes a character from New York Haiyan Townsmen is introduced, and East Coast regional teams compete in the New York Mini tournament crowning an early-season favorite. The second act of the film introduces the history of the game—traveling to Toisan (Taishan), China—and its modern-day rules, which include limiting participation by players who are not "100% Chinese." The sport and isolation of the game are revealed as direct descendants of the Chinese Exclusion Act and racism faced by the community. The final act of the film unites the characters, teams, and conflicts at the NACIVT championship tournament in Boston's Chinatown, setting up Olympian Kevin Wong as the player to beat. As teams fight for the title, they also bring to light the cultural belonging and loss of the modern Chinatown and 9-man community. The film concludes with a scene featuring the funeral of a beloved community member and another scene where 9-man leaders contemplate moving the tournament to a new city—with no Chinatown. [14]
Tsui Hark, born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983), the Once Upon a Time in China film series (1991–1997) and The Blade (1995). Tsui also has been a prolific writer and producer; his productions include A Better Tomorrow (1986), A Better Tomorrow II (1987), A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), The Killer (1989), The Legend of the Swordsman (1992), The Wicked City (1992), Iron Monkey (1993) and Black Mask (1996). He is viewed as a major figure in the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema and is regarded by critics as "one of the masters of Asian cinematography".
Tsai Ming-liang is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan. Tsai has written and directed 11 feature films, many short films, and television films. He is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese cinema. His films have been acclaimed worldwide and have won numerous awards at festivals. In 1994, Tsai won the Golden Lion at the 51st Venice International Film Festival for the film Vive L'Amour.
Tyrus Wong was a Chinese-born American artist. He was a painter, animator, calligrapher, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer and kite maker, as well as a set designer and storyboard artist. One of the most-influential and celebrated Asian-American artists of the 20th century, Wong was also a film production illustrator, who worked for Disney and Warner Bros.. He was a muralist for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), as well as a greeting card artist for Hallmark Cards. Most notably, he was the lead production illustrator on Disney's 1942 film Bambi, taking inspiration from Song dynasty art. He also served in the art department of many films, either as a set designer or storyboard artist, such as Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Rio Bravo (1959), The Music Man (1962), PT 109 (1963), The Great Race (1965), Harper (1966), The Green Berets (1968), and The Wild Bunch (1969), among others.
CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every March in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation's largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films. It annually presents approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. The festival is organized by the Center for Asian American Media.
CHOPS is the stage name of Scott Jung, also known as Scott Chops Jung, an American hip hop producer, rapper and former member of the Asian American Hip-Hop group, the Mountain Brothers. Jung grew up in Philadelphia and has Chinese ancestry. While with Mountain Brothers, he became known for using a combination of programmed and live instruments in his work, as opposed to sampling the work of others. Since the disbanding of the Mountain Brothers, CHOPS has worked primarily as a producer, with his most high-profile piece being the critically acclaimed 2011 video for Lonely Island entitled "The Creep."
This is an alphabetical index of topics related to Asian Americans.
Arthur Dong is an American filmmaker and author whose work centers on Asia America and anti-gay prejudice. He was raised in San Francisco, California, graduating from Galileo High School in June 1971. He received his BA in film from San Francisco State University and also holds a Directing Fellow Certificate from the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies. In 2007, SFSU named Dong its Alumnus of the year “for his continued success in the challenging arena of independent documentary filmmaking and his longstanding commitment to social justice."
Colma: The Musical is a 2006 American musical independent film directed by Richard Wong and written by H.P. Mendoza. The film, which is Wong's feature directorial debut, is a coming of age story based on the lives and the relationships between three teenagers living in Colma. Colma: The Musical features 13 songs all written and produced by H.P. Mendoza.
Justin Jitae Chon is an American actor and filmmaker. He has directed three films, Gook (2017), Ms. Purple (2019), and Blue Bayou (2021). He is also known for portraying Eric Yorkie in The Twilight Saga film series. He is a member of the K-pop parody group Boys Generally Asian.
Stephane Gauger was a Vietnamese-born American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer.
9-man is a volleyball team sport utilizing nine players per side and a slightly larger court. Historically, the sport was played by Chinese immigrants to the US, who predominantly hailed from Toisan (Taishan) city in Guangdong province of China. In the late 1930s the sport was used as a means to socially connect the laborers in Chinatowns across the United States. Teams from Boston and Providence, RI held the first organized nine-man tournament in 1938 which later spread to Chinatowns in other large US and Canadian cities. The North American version of 9-Man continues to grow today with a popular rotating tournament called the NACIVT uniting thousands of players and spectators each September over Labor Day weekend. It is unclear whether the sport was also played in the Asian Games in 1958 and in 1962 held in Tokyo and Jakarta, respectively, or if they were simply playing volleyball with nine players. The sport has not made a reappearance in the Asian Games since, and many believe that the rules of nine-man are exclusive to the community that plays in North America. The sport is the subject of an award-winning documentary called 9-Man that was completed in 2014 and had its world premiere at IFFBoston on April 27, 2014 at 1pm. The film was broadcast on the PBS World Channel series America ReFramed on May 5, 2015.
Frank Wong is a San Francisco, California artist who creates miniature dioramas that depict the San Francisco Chinatown of Wong's youth during the 1930s and 1940s. His works include his grandmother's kitchen, the family's living room at Christmas, an herb shop, Chinese laundry, shoeshine stand, and life in a single room occupancy hotel common in Chinatown.
Top Spin is a 2014 feature-length documentary film directed by Mina T. Son and Sara Newens. It follows the road to the 2012 Summer Olympics of three American table tennis teenager players: Ariel Hsing, Michael Landers, and Lily Zhang.
Finding Kukan is a 2016 feature-length documentary investigating the story of Chinese Hawaii-born producer Li Ling-Ai, the female co-producer of the film Kukan (1941).
Tyrus is a 2015 feature-length documentary directed by Pamela Tom about the renowned Chinese American artist Tyrus Wong, whose paintings became the inspiration for the classic animated feature Bambi.
Down a Dark Stairwell is a 2020 documentary about the 2014 shooting of Akai Gurley in New York City produced by the film production company Noncompliant Films. The documentary made its debut broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens on April 12, 2021. It was later broadcast on the Criterion Channel and distributed by Kino Lorber on their streaming platform and Kanopy.
Deborah Lum is an American documentary filmmaker based in San Francisco. Her projects frequently explore subject matters within the Asian and Asian American community.
Far East Deep South is a 2020 American documentary film about a Chinese American family's journey to search for their family roots. Instead of leading them to the Far East to a remote village in China, it took them to the deep south into the small town of Cleveland in the Mississippi Delta.
Robin Lung is a Chinese-American filmmaker and producer based in Hawai'i. Lung is most known for her documentary Finding Kukan, which focuses on the overlooked producer of Kukan, Li Ling A.