Under the Influence: Hua Hsu

Writer Hua Hsu appears in person to present two films by Curtis Choy as part of our ongoing ‘Under the Influence’ series— wherein we ask people who inspire us to share documentaries that have inspired them. 

Curtis Choy's work reminds us of how the radical politics of the 1960s and 70s demanded new approaches to form and storytelling. As a sound technician, his career indexes the history of Asian American filmmaking, from Wayne Wang's 'Chan is Missing' to Gene Cajayon's 'The Debut' to Justin Lin's 'Finishing the Game.' A punk energy courses through his own films. In 1976, he made 'Dupont Guy: The Schiz of Grant Avenue,' a frenetic, crass, utterly absorbing film essay that conveys the complicated psyche and din of Chinatown. In 1983, he directed 'The Fall of the I Hotel,' a poetic chronicle of the multi-racial, multi-generational community movement that arose to defend the elderly manongs of the I-Hotel, a low-income residential hotel in San Francisco's Manilatown, from eviction.

-Hua Hsu

Hua Hsu is a Staff Writer at The New Yorker. He is the author of “A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific” and the forthcoming memoir “Stay True.” He's a board member of the Asian American Writers workshop and Critical Minded, an initiative to create more opportunities for cultural critics of color. After teaching at Vassar College since 2007, this summer, he will assume a new role as Professor of Literature at Bard College.