Forever, Chinatown

An Artist Recreates His Childhood Chinatown in a Rapidly Changing San Francisco

A documentary about unknown, self-taught 81-year-old artist Frank Wong who has spent the past four decades recreating his fading memories by building romantic, extraordinarily detailed miniature models of the San Francisco Chinatown rooms of his youth. This film takes the journey of one individual and maps it to a rapidly changing urban neighborhood from 1940s to present day.

A meditation on memory, community, and preserving one's own legacy, Frank's three-dimensional miniature dioramas become rare portals into a historic neighborhood and a window to the artist's filtered and romanticized memories and emotional struggles. In his bargain with immortality, Frank announces plans to cremate his exquisite works with him upon his death in order to 'live inside them forever' in his afterlife.

Nominated for Best Documentary-Cultural/Historical at the Northern California Area Emmy Awards. Audience Award for Best Documentary Short at the Boston Asian American Film Festival, and the Austin Asian American Film Festival.