Miss Chinatown, U.S.A.

Plot

Held in conjunction with San Francisco's annual Chinese New Year celebration, the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Pageant is a competition in which young women of Chinese ancestry demonstrate their beauty, poise, talent and intelligence with the hopes of winning cash prizes and recognition within the Asian-American community. Launched in 1958, the pageant isn't as popular as it was at its height in the 1960s, but Miss Chinatown U.S.A. still attracts contestants from around the country, and Kathy Huang's short documentary looks at the competition through the eyes of one candidate who is at once typical and unlikely. Kathie Au is intelligent, attractive, and has earned a bit of local fame as a cheerleader for the Seattle Seahawks. However, Kathie sometimes feels at odds with her ethnicity, has issues with her looks, and isn't sure if she fits in with Chinese-American culture or belongs in the broader melting pot of the nation. Kathie chooses to confront some of her issues by entering the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. competition, and over the course of a year examines her own preconceptions about self-image, ethnicity, culture, intelligence and feminism as she struggles to win the title. Miss Chinatown, U.S.A. was screened in competition as part of the short film series at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Credit

Kathy Huang - Director

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