DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL - Akai Gurley, Peter Liang, and how communities are built with filmmaker Ursula Liang

Hello,

A special episode this week with filmmaker Ursula Liang about her new film Down a Dark Stairwell. It’s out now on PBS and we hope everyone who listens to the show watches this nuanced, thoughtful and brave film. I (Jay) first saw Ursula’s work in 9-Man, a film about sports in Chinatown. Since then, I’ve followed her career carefully because what she does — deep community reporting, thoughtful portrayals of the concerns of all types of people, and the care with which she makes her films — exemplifies everything good about journalism and documentary filmmaking.

This is a film about many things, but at it’s core, it’s about how two communities deal with a police killing. And through verite footage and intimate interviews, it shows how people both come together and split apart while trying to navigate problems that fall well outside the easy consensus. On the show, we talk a lot about the need to go beyond rigid identity categories and simple, doctrinaire explanations. If you want to watch what that looks like, watch this film.

The film is available in both Chinese and English — both versions available to stream here.

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