Who killed Vincent Chin? / a film by Christine Choy & Renee Tajima ; producer, Renee Tajima ; director, Christine Choy ; a production of Film News Now Foundation & WTVS/Detroit.
This Academy-Award nominated film is a powerful statement about racism in working-class America. It relates the stark facts of Vincent Chin's brutal murder. A 27-year-old Chinese-American, Chin was celebrating his last days of bachelorhood in a Detroit bar. An argument broke out between him and...
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| Contributors: | , , , , , , , |
| Corporate Contributors: | , |
| Format: | Electronic Video |
| Language: | English |
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New York, NY :
Filmakers Library,
[1988]
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| Subjects: | |
| Genre/Form: | Documentary. Documentary films. Feature films. Nonfiction films. Internet videos. Video recordings for the hearing impaired. |
| Summary: | This Academy-Award nominated film is a powerful statement about racism in working-class America. It relates the stark facts of Vincent Chin's brutal murder. A 27-year-old Chinese-American, Chin was celebrating his last days of bachelorhood in a Detroit bar. An argument broke out between him and Ron Ebens, a Chrysler Motors foreman. Ebens shouted ethnic insults, the fight moved outside, and before onlookers, Ebens bludgeoned Chin to death with a baseball bat. In the ensuing trial, Ebens was let off with a suspended sentence and a small fine. Outrage filled the Asian-American community to the point where they organized an unprecedented civil rights protest. His bereaved mother, brought up to be self-effacing, successfully led a nationwide crusade for a retrial. This tragic story is interwoven with the whole fabric of timely social concerns. It addresses issues such as the failure of our judicial system to value every citizen's rights equally, the collapse of the automobile industry under pressure from Japanese imports, and the souring of the American dream for the blue collar worker. Widely acclaimed by the press, Who Killed Vincent Chin? is a memorable film for all audiences. |
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| Item Description: | Originally produced as a motion picture in 1987; broadcast as an episode of the second season of the PBS series, POV on July 16, 1989. Title from resource description page (viewed May 24, 2011). |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (1 video file (approximately 82 min.)) : sound, color |
| Awards: | Hawaii International Film Festival, Best Documentary, 1988 International Documentary Association, IDA Award, 1988 National Film Preservation Board, National Film Registry, 2021 Peabody Awards, Peabody Award, 1990 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, Silver Baton, 1991 Academy Awards, Best Documentary, Features, Nominated, 1989 Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize, Nominated, 1989 |
| Production Credits: | Interviews, Renee Tajima ; principal cinematography, Christine Choy, Nick Doob, Kyle Kibbe, Al Santana ; editor, Holly Fisher. |
| Participant or Performer: | Interviewees, Ronald Ebens, Michael Nitz, Lily F. Chin. |
| Language: | In English; closed-captioned in English. |