Film Screening: “Bluff City Chinese” (Thandi Cai, 2024)

^{Thandi Cai, 2024, 47 min, USA, in English}

^{Introduction and post-screening discussion moderated by Professor Eileen Chow.}

Two storytellers, one community, and 150 years of untold history.

Bluff City Chinese follows two Chinese-American storytellers, filmmaker Thandi Cai and Delta elder Emerald Dunn, as they uncover the untold history of Chinese immigrants in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Through personal journeys, community oral histories, and archival research, the film weaves a 150-year tapestry of identity, belonging, and resilience. 

Set against a backdrop of social and racial tensions, this intergenerational collaboration celebrates the power of storytelling to preserve heritage, bridge divides, and inspire unity for future generations.

About the director:

Thandi Cai (they/them), Director and Creator of Bluff City Chinese, identifies as a storyteller of the Asian Diaspora. Cai grew up in Memphis, TN where they learned how storytelling could be used to empower themselves and others across racial, political, gender, ethnic and economic lines.

Cai uses visual arts, film-making, and graphic design to begin conversations around critical dialogue. Their goal as an artist is to arouse imagination, pleasure, and improvisation to ideate new paths forward. After earning a BS in Architectural Design, they served for two years as an education volunteer for Peace Corps Lesotho until 2018. 

From there they were a teaching-artist, exploring the intersection of nonprofit work, art, and community organizing. In 2022, they earned an MFA in Visual Communication Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They maintain a community-centered design practice, partnering with clients such as Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, US-China Business Council, and Michelle Obama’s Kitchen Garden. 

Cai has exhibited work at the Chicago Art Department, Crosstown Arts, Morija Arts Center and the Museum of Science & History of Memphis. Cai also co-founded the Meng Cheng Artist Collective in service of community art making and dialogue in the Memphis community, and was awarded the IndieMemphis Film Grant in 2022.

During the pandemic, they moved back to Memphis and met Emerald Dunn to help independently research 150 years of Chinese Memphian history. 2023 is the 150th year anniversary of the first recorded Chinese Memphian. In honor of the occasion, this film is a timely tribute to their legacies. Cai created this documentary out of a desire to reveal and recover the untold truth. They say this Memphis-made film is a love letter to their younger self—and our future selves—to help heal and transcend the hurts of racial prejudice.

Watch the trailer:

Cosponsors:

Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke; Duke Program in Asian American & Diaspora Studies; Screen/Society (Cinematic Arts at Duke); Duke Center for Documentary Studies

Location & Parking Information

The Rubenstein Arts Center is nestled within the university’s central campus on Campus Drive, across from the Nasher Museum of Art and near the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

The Campus Drive lot, located at the corner of Campus Drive and Anderson Street, is directly across the street.

• Visitors with a valid Duke permit may park in this lot after 5:00 PM
• Visitors without a Duke permit may pay for parking via the online BlueSpot system (a mobile device is needed; signs with QR codes are posted at the lot entrance)

There is also sometimes free street parking along Alexander Avenue (southbound side) and Oregon Street (southbound side).

Public Transit

The easiest way to reach the Rubenstein Arts Center from elsewhere on campus is to take a free Duke Transit shuttle along Campus Drive. The main East-West bus (C1) runs seven days a week during the academic year, with service throughout the day and well into the night.

Visitors to Duke can also consider taking public transit. GoDurham buses are fare-free (via the Umo app or card); GoDurham #6 stops at Duke University Rd and Anderson St., next to the Nasher Museum.

For visitors coming from UNC Chapel Hill, the Robertson Express bus runs daily between the Morehead Planetarium and Science Drive Circle. It is then only a short walk from Science Drive to Abele Quad, where the C1 East-West bus is located.