To celebrate the 2020 Asian American International Film Festival, we're bringing Yaka Mein back for one night and one night only.

About this Event

Get tickets to the Asian American International Film Festival's virtual streamings for Far East Deep South (the east coast premiere!) here and be sure to tune in for a special conversation between Chef Lucas Sin and the filmmakers of Far East Deep South on Friday, October 9 at 7 PM! It will be streamed live on Twitch here and Facebook here.

The conversation surrounding the entangled relationship between Chinese and Black American communities is a difficult one, but the stories that Far East Deep South tell, of Chinese families in the Mississippi Delta, help elucidate and guide that conversation.

In the late 1800s, following the abolition of slavery, Chinese “coolies” arrived in the Missippi Delta to supplement the recently emancipated African freedmen. But by the 1870s, most labourers had abandoned those plantations and began operating grocery stores. And those Chinese operated grocery stores were among the very few which served Black families in a highly segregated society. And as much as I wish that this is a story of solidarity, it really is one of survival and economic sensibility.

Cognizant of the urgent need for a more involved conversation about solidarity and race, we’d like to present you with a delicious amalgamation of our interest and research into this segment of history: yaka mein.

At the base of the Mississippi Delta, in New Orleans, yaka mein is served—almost exclusively by Black chefs—as a hangover cure. At its core, yaka mein is a beef noodle soup with some Cantonese roots but heavily infused with Creole spices; Chinese food interpreted and evolved via the economic necessities in the Deep South, wildered deliciously beyond understanding. Though its recipe varies vastly from one proprietor to the other, our version features beef foreshanks braised Sichuan style with doubanjiang, a soy-based beef broth married with ketchup and worcestershire sauce, springy Cantonese noodles to stand up to the broth, and of course, a hardboiled egg.

In the spirit of optimism, collaboration, and the kindness of strangers,

Chef Lucas Sin + Junzi Kitchen + Far East Deep South

FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH is a new 76-minute feature documentary produced by Larissa Lam and Baldwin Chiu, a husband-wife music and filmmaking team based in Los Angeles, CA. The film is based off the award-winning short film, Finding Cleveland. The film presents a very personal and unique perspective on immigration, race and American identity. The film was written and directed by Larissa Lam. The film was edited by Dwight Buhler with music by world renown composer, Nathan Wang.

The film explores the seldom-told history of early Chinese immigrants living in the American South during the late 1800s to mid-1900s through the eyes of Charles Chiu and his family as they travel from California to Mississippi to find answers about his father, K.C. Lou.

Left behind in China as a baby, Charles Chiu, a retired U.S. Air Force reservist, is reluctant to discuss growing up without his father and his family’s complicated past with his sons, Baldwin and Edwin. Eventually, Charles and his family travel to Cleveland, MS to visit the gravesite of his father, K.C. Lou. In the span of just several hours, a simple family trip leads to unexpected and emotional encounters with local residents. Along the way, they get a crash course on the history of the early Chinese immigrants in the Deep South that they never knew.

This fateful trip to Cleveland, MS only raised more questions and prompts the Chiu family to dig even deeper into their past. They meet historians and Mississippi Delta residents from the Black, white and Chinese communities who help fill in the blanks to their family’s life in Mississippi. At every turn, more surprising revelations pop up and change their family forever.

The film provides a window into the lives of the Chinese in the South and the discrimination they faced in the midst of segregation. The film not only highlights the struggles and perseverance of the Chinese, but explores the racial dynamics between the white, Black and Chinese communities and the added challenge of exclusionary immigration policies, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, many families faced at that time.

Run time: 76 minutes

Watch the official trailer here and purchase tickets to the virtual viewing here.