Manilatown is in the Heart

Producer/ Director/Editor: Curtis Choy

Cinematographers: Emiko Omori, Curtis Choy

Sound: Myron Chan, Frances Nkarao

Poetry: Al Robles, Lou Syquia, & Janice Mirikitani

Music: Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo & Kevin McLeod

A one-man social service agency and poet, Al Robles is truly one of Asian America’s hidden gems. For three decades, he has been roaming Chinatown/Manilatown’s single-room occupancy hotels, taking elderly veterans to their appointments and delivering lunch to shut-ins.

Al is the link to the disappearing manong generation, the bachelor society that came from the Phillipines in the 1920s and ‘30s as workers. He records, interprets, and channels their stories.

Al’s musical talent graces much of the action, but it is his performance at poetry readings - and his ability to whisk the audience into altered states - that shine through brilliantly.

Curtis Choy is an independent producer and filmmaker who has contributed to numerous independent and PBS documentaries, commercials and feature films as a production sound mixer. He is the director of Dupont Guy: The Schiz of Grant Avenue, The Fall of The I-Hotel and What’s Wrong With Frank Chin? His sound recording can be heard on The Joy Luck Club, Better Luck Tomorrow, and Academy Award winner Breathing Lessons.

[58 minutes]