Group 2 Introduction

Hi! We are a group of four made up of Samantha Kolasa [3rd year film major], Quin Roberts [3rd year film major], Victor Li [4th year CS] and Zhuoya Ma [4th year media major]. As a group, we all come from different film studies and Chinese language film backgrounds, which will broaden our group perspective across the research process. Victor is interested in understanding how Chinese films have progressed within the past 50 years. Samantha doesn’t have experience with Chinese films specifically, but she is interested in the preservation of historical spaces as cultural landmarks and the differences of Chinese language cinema compared to the evolution of Hollywood-era films in the United States. Quin is interested in the progression of the theatrical space overtime, how the theater was regarded long ago as opposed to now, what films they used to play and what they might play or not play these days. Zhuoya is from China, and interested in learning more about the influence of Chinese movies and Chinese directors on the international film industry.

Our group research project will study the past, present and future of the Great Star Theatre on Jackson St, as well as how the Chinatown subculture shaped the screening experience at this venue. The historic theater is almost 100 years old, making it the oldest (and only) surviving theater in Chinatown according to the Great Star Theater website. After watching the film Goodbye, Dragon Inn, our group was thoroughly enthralled by the beauty of the theatre space, and we would like to further investigate how the theatre space can be viewed as an embodiment of a certain era. Therefore, we decided to explore how Chinese cinema is represented in theatres.

During our first work session, we narrowed down our research focus to the Great Star Theatre, the only theatre standing in SF Chinatown. In order to fully understand how Chinese cinema is intertwined with the past, present and future of the venue, we will rely heavily on two research strategies: field interviews and close analysis of iconic screening events. We will conduct interviews with not only the current employees, but also those who had a personal connection with the theatre in the past. We are hoping to collaborate with the nonprofit currently involved in the restoration and preservation of the theater to better understand its rich history in the city and the community it still maintains to this day. In addition to that, we will leverage the abundance of historical records at the East Asian Library, including copies of different film flyers, to facilitate our conversation and hopefully will help some interviewees recall memories from decades ago.