This is going to be a good one!

A Must See!

“9-Man”

“9-Man” is an independent feature documentary about an isolated and exceptionally athletic Chinese-American sport that’s much more than a pastime. Since the 1930’s, young men have played this gritty, streetball game competitively in the alleys and parking lots of Chinatown. When the community was a Bachelor Society (men outnumbered women 4-to-1) at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment and laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act forced Chinese restaurant workers and laundrymen to socialize exclusively amongst themselves, nine-man offered both escape and fraternity for men who were separated from their families in China and facing extreme discrimination and distrust. Today, some 80 years later, nine-man is a lasting connection to Chinatown for a community of men who know a different, more integrated America and it’s a game that has grown exponentially in athleticism. Nine-man punctuates each summer with a vibrant, aggressive, exhausting bragging-rights tournament that unites thousands of Chinese-Americans and maintains traditional rules and customs.

“9-Man” introduces the history of the game and a diverse cast of modern-day characters — from 6’7″ Olympian Kevin Wong to a 91-year-old pioneer — combining vérité footage and interviews with never before seen archival footage and photos sourced directly from the community. Pivoting between oil-spotted Chinatown parking lots and jellyfish-filled banquet scenes, the film captures the spirit of nine-man as players not only battle for a championship but fight to preserve a sport that holds so much history.

Release Date

The World Premiere of “9-Man” will be at IFFBoston April 27th!

The West Coast Premiere will be at LA Asian Pacific Film Fest May 2nd!

We are very, very excited to announce that the World Premiere of “9-Man” will be Sunday, April 27th, 1pm, at the largest festival in New England, the Independent Film Festival of Boston. Thanks to your support and cheerleading over the past five years, this film will finally see the big screen–and an enormous one at that! We will need all of your help getting bodies in seats and selling out the Sommerville Theatre in Davis Square, which just turned 100 years old and has 900 seats! Tickets will go on sale at iffboston.org at the beginning of April (7th for members, 9th for general public), so for now, please save the date and start spreading the word.

Also announcing … our West Coast Premiere! “9-Man” is thrilled to be a part of the 30th Anniversary Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The event was founded by a group of activists to support independent filmmaking and nurture accurate and nuanced portrayals of Asian Americans; we’re proud to add this film to their slate. We have two great screenings lined up in LA and hope to see you at one! Tickets go will soon be on sale at asianfilmfestla.org.

Please stay tuned for future announcements about festivals in your city. It would be great if you could forward this email on to Asian American clubs and organizations, people you know in Boston or Los Angeles, sports teams and leagues, historians, cinephiles, classmates, co-workers, journalists, bloggers, friends. The more momentum we can build for the film, the more cities we will be able to take it to!

UPCOMING SCREENINGS:

SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2014, 1:00 PM
Somerville Theatre, main screen
55 Davis Square, Somerville, MA 02144

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014, 7:00 PM
Directors Guild of America, Theater 2
7920 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90046

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014, 4:30 PM
Tateuchi Democracy Forum, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy
111 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Thank you for your continued support of this film. We couldn’t have done it without you!

With gratitude,

Ursula

@iffboston @9mandoc @uliang @asianfilmfestla