The Chinatown Film Festival is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to increase exposure of Asian culture while uniting it with American and other International cultures.  The Chinatown Film Festival will benefit the NYC Chinatown community on a variety of levels.  The Chinatown Film Festival will act as a strong cultural liaison uniting both East and West through film, entertainment, and art.

As China grows in the world paradigm on a variety of levels, Americans remain with little understanding or exposure to contemporary Chinese culture.  The Chinatown Film Festival is a concept that creates a new point of contact between Chinese-Asian culture and mass society.  Film is the ideal medium; as it is multidimensional as well as easily and readily accessed.

            A Chinatown Renaissance.  The Chinatown Film Festival will provide a springboard for the continued rebirth of NYC’s Chinatown.  With the creation of an international event such as the Chinatown Film Festival , the image of historic Chinatown will be recharged and have new international appeal for visitors, businesses, and community members.

BACKGROUND 

The Chinatown Film Festival idea was started in 2005 by Simone Tarantino, Edward J. Cuccia and Ammy Lim, who were living and working in Chinatown and realized the need for greater cultural communication between the West and Asia, aiming to serve as a role model for the rest of the world. In 2006, the Chinatown Film Festival began partnerships with various cultural associations and community patrons to begin the planning for the various aspects of an international cultural event. The Chinatown Film Festival officially became incorporated as a non-profit corporation on December 7, 2006. 

The idea was to create a major international competitive Asian film festival in New York not only to recognize the high quality of films made in Asia, but also to provide a space where unique traditions and cultures can be shared and experienced. Because of its conceptual uniqueness, it has raised a great deal of excitement in the media, throughout the community, and around the world.

As a non-profit corporation, the Chinatown Film Festival has the community’s interests as its first priority. Since 2006, Chinatown Film Festival has been partnering with different Asian cultural associations, as well as community patrons. Together, we strive to establish a common ground on which various cultures can integrate and interact with one another. Chinatown Film Festival also hopes to help revive the Chinatown community by inviting New York and the rest of the world to share in this cultural experience. Through this collaboration, the festival will increase greatly each year in both the number of submissions as well as program size and quality.