
Academy Award nominated “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” airs tonight on PBS at 10 p.m. ET |
The newly restored film, documenting Vincent Chin’s brutal murder and the Asian American civil rights movement it inspired, is being broadcast to mark the 40th anniversary of this tragic event. |
A legacy title from POV’s archives, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” makes its encore broadcast on the award-winning PBS television series POV tonight, June 20th, 2022 at 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, pbs.org, and the PBS Video app. |
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This year marks the 40th anniversary of the racially motivated murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, murdered by two white men, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, in Detroit, Michigan on June 19, 1982. |
On June 17, 2022, the Vincent Chin 40th Remembrance & Rededication hosted a Q&A with Director Renee Tajima-Peña, Associate Producer Nancy Tong, and Executive Producer Juanita Anderson. The “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” filmmakers recalled and reflected on the five-year process of making the film, including their experiences with interviewing people such as Ronald Ebens and his wife, Michael Nitz, friends of Nitz and Chin, witnesses, and Vincent Chin’s mother, Lily Chin.Highlights from the Detroit events, including this Q&A discussion, will be made available soon. |
More on Vincent Chin’s Legacy from Detroit Public TV’s One Detroit:Revisiting ‘Who Killed Vincent Chin?’, Asian American Civil Rights Nearly 40 Years LaterOne of the most important documentaries that’s helped frame the Asian American experience called “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”, released in 1989 by POV, will be rebroadcast on PBS stations nationwide. Detroit Public Television helped create the film, which received a lot of national recognition including an Academy Award nomination.THE STORY: A Chinese American, Vincent Chin, brutally killed in 1982 when the auto industry collapsed and Japan was blamed––the killers never spent a day in jail.New York filmmakers Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña teamed up with Detroit Public TV’s Juanita Anderson at a time when making a documentary of this scope by a local PBS station was a gargantuan challenge. Now all prominent in their field, they discuss making “Who Killed Vincent Chin?.” “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” is a co-presentation with DPTV and Center for Asian American Media CAAM). AAPI Artist Anthony L. LeeIt’s been forty years since the death of Vincent Chin put Detroit in the national headlines as the automakers were in crisis and scapegoated Japan for their problems. Chin, a Chinese American, was killed when anti-Asian bigotry was on the rise. Now, a series of events about that case and the new rise of anti-Asian hate crimes are happening including a showing of “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”. Plus, a Vincent Chin mural by Anthony L. Lee is on display at what was once Detroit’s Chinatown. One Detroit’s Bill Kubota takes a look. Vincent Chin’s LegacyIt’s been forty years since the death of Vincent Chin, etched in Detroit’s history – and nationally, Asian American history, too. for a Chinese American killed as the U.S. was mired in a recession and Detroit automakers blamed Japan for their woes—bound Asian Americans together not just in the city, but across the country. Now, Vincent Chin’s killing is seen in a new light with another wave of anti-Asian hate, and in the decades since, there’s more Americans of Asian descent who call Michigan home. For more information on all this, including Detroit Public TV’s continuing coverage of the Asian American community, please visit OneDetroitPBS.org/vincentchin. |
