News Archive - 2022

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, OUTFEST honored Arthur Dong amongst their selections for ARCHITECTS OF OUTFEST: individuals who have made a significant contribution to sharing LGBTQ+ stories through the organization, its film festivals, its archival work, and its support of new, aspiring filmmakers.

Hollywood Chinese director Arthur Dong is interviewed by The Criterion Channel executive producer Kim Hendrickson via Zoom for his introduction to a series based on his documentary and book. The 25-film series, which Arthur curated, launches August 1, 2022. Info, click here.

Mary Mammon, one of the original performers from San Francisco’s golden era of Chinatown nightclubs during World War II, is remembered as a trailblazing rebel. Read the article here. See more photos of Mary with an extended interview in the book Forbidden City, USA.

Pop culture author/professor Oliver Wang and Arthur Dong discuss the Criterion Channel retrospective “Stories of Resistance: Documentaries by Arthur Dong.” Streaming here.

Chinatown nightclub singer Eleanor Yung (Elly/Nora Chui) passed away peacefully in her sleep on Valentine’s Day 2022. Labelled the “Nightingale of Chinatown,” Ms. Yung was a featured entertainer during the 1940s, performing at San Francisco’s Chinatown nightclubs like the Lion’s Den and the Kubla Khan.

The Queer Review reports on the “Pioneers of Queer Cinema” series at UCLA Film & TV Archive: “Let us as a community be reinvigorated by the work of these pioneering queer filmmakers and strive to support and even create our own uncompromising queer stories that examine our lives from within.” Coming Out Under Fire screens February 20, 2022. Read the full article here. Watch the post screening Q & A here.

After years of planning and pandemic-delays, Pioneers of Queer Cinema “brings together a diverse group of filmmakers who showcase radical explorations of sexual orientation and gender identity.” Coming Out Under Fire is screened Feb 20. Read the Q Voice News article here. Watch the post screening Q & A here.

February 20, 2022: The 4k restoration of Coming Out Under Fire has its theatrical premiere at UCLA Film & Television Archive‘s Pioneers of Queer Cinema, a retrospective celebrating LGBTQ+ cinematic achievements from the last seven decades. 12 nights, 33 films. Watch the post screening Q & A here. More info: https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/…/pioneers-of-queer-cinema

We’re delighted to share this photo of Chinatown nightclub dancer/nightclub owner COBY YEE in a vintage 1960s photo on the right. On the left is the actual headdress that was gifted to our archives  by her daughter Shari Roh Matsuura and dancer Frankie Fictitious — THANK YOU for entrusting us with the stewardship of such a beautiful relic of our history!