Asian CineVision Records

Call Number

TAM.416

Date

circa 1975-2020, inclusive

Creator

Asian CineVision (Organization) (Role: Donor)

Woo, John C. (Role: Donor)

Extent

314.25 Linear Feet

in 313 record cartons, 1 legal manuscript box, 1 half manuscript box, 1 CD box, 1 poster tube, 1 oversize roll, and 1 oversize folder in a shared box.

Extent

8 websites

in 8 archived websites.

Language of Materials

Materials are mostly in English, with some materials in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Arabic. Chinese language materials appear in both traditional and simplified scripts, and spoken Chinese recorded in AsianCinevision programs is mostly Cantonese, but some episodes include Mandarin Chinese, English, and various Cantonese-based dialects.

Abstract

Asian CineVision (ACV), founded by grassroots media activists in New York's Chinatown in 1976, is a non-profit media arts organization that develops, promotes and preserves media made by or about peoples of Asian descent. ACV initiated the weekly, cable-access Chinese Cable Television (CCTV), 1977-1983, which covered a broad range of community-interest issues such as local politics, education, language, housing, labor and healthcare. Beginning in 1978, ACV sponsored the Asian American International Film Festival (AIIFF). ACV also publishes the Asian American media arts journal CineVue. This unprocessed collection consists of three series: I, Administrative Files of Asian CineVision; II, Research Files; III, Video Recordings in various formats from Chinese Cable Television (CCTV), and the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF).

Historical Note

Asian CineVision (ACV) is a non-profit media arts organization that develops, promotes and preserves media made by or about peoples of Asian descent. Asian CineVision was founded by grassroots media activists in New York's Chinatown in 1976 to raise social and cultural awareness of the Asian American experience, both in the Asian American community and among the general public. Founders Tsui Hark, Christine Choy, Thomas Tam, Danny Yung and Peter Chow, and others also sought to raise awareness through media training in the local Chinese community. The organization sought to address problems of media access for Asian Americans and also to present and publicize the work of Asian American artists. The organization initiated the weekly, cable-access Chinese Cable Television (CCTV) in 1977, which covered a broad range of community-interest issues such as local politics, education, language, housing, labor and healthcare. Significantly, it was the first Chinese-language news program in the U.S. Production of CCTV ceased in 1983. Beginning in 1978, it has sponsored the Asian American (AIIFF) International Film Festival. In 1981, Asian CineVision assumed publication of Bridge magazine, a quarterly journal documenting the development of a pan-Asian American political and cultural identity previously published by the group Basement Workshop. Bridge ceased publication in 1986 and was replaced by the Asian American media arts journal CineVue. Through these and other programs, Asian CineVision supports Asian and Asian American mediamakers and presents their works to the Asian American community and wider audiences.

Arrangement

This unprocessed collection contains five series:

I. Administrative Files
II. Research Files
III. Video Recordings
IV. Addendum
V. Archived Websites

Scope and Contents

This unprocessed collection consists of four series: I, Administrative Files of Asian CineVision (boxes 1-78, less the eleven interfiled boxes of series two); II, Research Files, i.e., background files on Asian American cinema, including a large collection of film catalogues (includes some notes in Chinese, and catalogs and magazines Spanish, Arabic, Korean, and Japanese (boxes 21-28, 40, 53, 67); III, Video Recordings (in various formats), from (A) Chinese Cable Television (CCTV), boxes 79-159, and (B) Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), i.e., motion pictures, short films, documentaries, and other video materials gathered in preparation for the festival (boxes 160-273); Addendum, 2011-2013 (unprocessed; boxes 274-300), which contains unidentified materials, posters, hard drives, and laptops.

Materials added to this collecion in 2017 include Programs from Asian American International Film Festivals (AAIFF) and Asian American International Video Festivals (AAIVF), dated 1978-2003. They also include inventories of Asian CineVision video archives, and catalog indexes of AAIFF programs and the Chinese-American cultural magazine Bridge.

Materials added to this collection in 2018 include programs from Asian American International Film Festivals (AAIFF) and Asian American International Video Festivals (AAIVF), copies of the periodical Cinevue, and office files related to these materials, dated 1976-2003.

Subjects

Organizations

Asian American International Film Festival; Chinese Cable Television (New York, N.Y.).; Asian CineVision (Organization)

People

Woo, John C. (Role: Donor)

Topics

Asian Americans in television broadcasting.; Asian American motion picture producers and directors.; Asian Americans.; Asian American art -- Periodicals.

Places

Chinatown (New York, N.Y.)

Donors

Asian CineVision (Organization); Woo, John C.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Asian CineVision, Inc. were transferred to New York University in 2007 by John C. Woo. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Asian CineVision Records; TAM 416; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

To cite the archived website in this collection: Identification of item, date; Asian CineVision Records; TAM 416; Wayback URL; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Location of Materials

Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least two business days prior to your research visit to coordinate access.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by John C. Woo on behalf of Asican CineVision, Inc. in 2007; additional materials were donated by the organization in 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2018. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 2008.007, 2008.008, NPA.2008.008, 2011.042, 2013.003, 2017.045, and 2018.135.

http://www.asiancinevision.org/ and http://aaiff.org/2014/ were initially selected by curators and captured through the use of The California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service in 2014 as part of the Arts and Cultural Left Web Archive. In 2015, these websites were migrated to Archive-It. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website. In 2018, http://aaiff.org/2018/ was added from a redirect of http://aaiff.org/. In 2019, http://aaiff.org/2015/, http://aaiff.org/2016/, and http://aaiff.org/2017/ were added. The accession number associated with these websites is 2019.125. In May 2020, https://filmfreeway.com/aaiff43/ was added. The accession number assoicated with this website is 2020.039. In September 2020, https://www.aaiff.org/ was added. The accession number assoicated with this website is 2021.045.

Custodial History

Asian CineVision, Inc. sent 238 boxes of records and graphics in 2007. Asian CineVision sent an additional 27 boxes of their records in 2011. In 2013, Asian CineVision sent an additional donation of 2 boxes containing posters, laptops and hard drives. In 2017 Asian CineVision sent three boxes of inventories and film festival programs.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Access to audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Portions of this unprocessed collection are either in fragile condition, poorly housed, or loose. Therefore, in certain instances preservation concerns may take precedence, and, at the discretion of Library staff, some materials may not be available for use.

Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Take Down Policy

Archived websites are made accessible for purposes of education and research. NYU Libraries have given attribution to rights holders when possible; however, due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information.

If you hold the rights to materials in our archived websites that are unattributed, please let us know so that we may maintain accurate information about these materials.

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on this website for which you have not granted permission (or is not covered by a copyright exception under US copyright laws), you may request the removal of the material from our site by submitting a notice, with the elements described below, to the repository email.

Please include the following in your notice: Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material; your contact information, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you are the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed and that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and made under penalty of perjury; and your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, we will remove the allegedly infringing material from public view while we assess the issues identified in your notice.

Collection processed by

I-Ting Emily Chu

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-09-17 13:58:48 -0400.

Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Language: Some names and program titles written in Latin script are also represented using traditional or simplified Chinese characters.

Processing Information

Processing decisions made prior to 2014 have not been recorded.

In 2014, the archived websites were added as Series V. The original finding aid was reformatted from a Word document to EAD in 2014.

In 2017, three boxes of inventories and festival programs were added to Series I: Administrative Files as boxes 311-313. Two floppy disks included in this donation were inventoried and forensically imgaged.

In 2018, two boxes of festival programs, publications, and office files were removed from hanging folders and rehoused in acid-free boxes. At the time of accessioning, these materials were added to the file list in Series I: Administrative Files. They have not been arranged by the archivist and are in the order in which they were received by the donor.

In 2019-2020, the archived websites were added to the finding aid.

In 2020, 109 tapes from Series III, Sub-series A were digitized and described on the file level.

In 2021, some narrative description was edited to more accurately describe the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Creator-supplied titles containing harmfully euphemistic language regarding the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II were identified, but have been retained to convey important contextual information regarding time and place in which the documents and titles were created.

Researchers can access previous versions of the finding aid in our GitHub repository at https://github.com/NYULibraries/findingaids_eads/commits/master/tamwag/tam_416.xml.

Revisions to this Guide

August 2017: Edited by Heather Mulliner to reflect inclusion of 2017 accretion

November 2018: Edited by Shiva Addanki to reflect inclusion of 2018 accretion

September 2021: Edited by Nicole Greenhouse for updated administrative information and archived websites

June 2020: Edited by Anna McCormick to reflect the digitization and enhanced description of CCTV tapes done by Klavier J. Wang

February 2021: Edited by Amy C. Vo to change legacy description about the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II

May 2021 - September 2024: Updated by Rachel Mahre, Lyric Evans-Hunter, Olivija Liepa, and Linda Smith to state that some audiovisual materials have been digitized and are accessible to patrons

January 2023: Updated by Lyric Evans-Hunter to further describe digitized material

February - March 2024: Updated by Rachel Mahre and Olivija Liepa to include video format information for Boxes 136 and 137

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives