The Chinatown Diner First-Look Trailer
byThis week audiences got a first-look at The Chinatown Diner, the dramatic feature film debut from Lawrence Le Lam which was shot in Vancouver’s Chinatown and Richmond, and is set for a festival run in 2025.
The Chinatown Diner First-Look Trailer
In 2020, Lam received $150,000 for the project through the Telefilm program dedicated to supporting emerging filmmakers. “At a time when art spaces are disappearing from our cultural landscape due to rent hikes and renovictions, The Chinatown Diner is a much-needed cinematic call to arms for community activism.” [source: Emily Carr University]
In the film, Rikki Meng, played by Aileen Wu (Alien: Romulus), is a beatmaker who falls in love with The Chinatown Diner; a soon-to-be-demolished diner by day and underground hip-hop club by night. She sets out to save this beloved community stable her real estate tycoon father is trying to destroy. Meanwhile The Immortals, a hip hop group from the near future, narrate the story in their divine podcast.
Other talent in the film includes Curtis Lum (The Night Agent, Siren, Supergirl), Andrea Bang (Kim’s Convenience, Float), Olivia Cheng (Warrior, Deadly Class) and Tzi Ma (Mulan, Arrival).
The Chinatown Diner is a coming-of-age drama, with sprinkles of crime drama, hip-hopera, and horror, that explores the social fabrics of Vancouver’s historic Chinatown. Both in front of and behind the camera, Canadian filmmaker Lam’s first feature promises to be a stylish, fresh, and edgy celebration of Asian culture, Asian hip-hop / lofi music, and delicious food.
