Synopsis: A story-spinoff based on author Henry Chang’s crime novel series of NYPD Detective Jack Yu. Set in the early ’90s when local street gangs terrorized Manhattan’s Chinatown, our story centers on Jack Yu investigating the murder of a teenage boy involved in a turf war. Amidst the broad distrust and racial divide between the Chinatown community and NYPD, our lone lawman searches for a nondescript immigrant family to deliver a shattering message that also brings forth his own conflicted relationship with his father.

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Author Henry Chang has been a huge influence of mine since 2006 when I first saw posters of his crime-drama novels displayed around NYC’s Chinatown: “Chinatown Beat”, “Year of The Dog”, “Red Jade”, and “Death Money”. His fictional character, Jack Yu, is a hardened NYPD Detective torn between pursuing justice in his community during a time of blatant racism and honoring the memory of his father and their Asian roots. It is refreshing to read about a Chinese-American protagonist who isn’t a stereotype. Jack isn’t a cook, a deliveryman, or a martial artist. He is simply a child of an immigrant parent walking a line between two worlds ­– something that I am personally very familiar with.

Positive Asian-American male role models have been absent in Hollywood for the most part unless it was Bruce Lee from the 1970s or other martial arts figures. In the 1980s, Dennis Gong Dun came close to breaking the barriers by portraying such Chinese-American protagonists as Herbert Kwong in “Year of the Dragon” and Wang Chi in “Big Trouble in Little China”. In the 2010s, the success of “Crazy Rich Asians” appeared to have presented a renewed opportunity for compelling stories with tangible Asian-American male characters. As of today, however, Asian-American male role models have yet to be amplified to the mainstream audience.

It has been thirteen years since the publication of “Chinatown Beat”, and I feel this is the perfect time to bring Jack Yu’s story to light in our short film, A FATHER’S SON. Funded by the fans of the novels and the AAPI community, it was shot exclusively in New York’s Chinatown where its production helped numerous small businesses in the area while employing a predominantly Asian-American cast and crew. I am deeply proud and honored that our community came together to help realize this passion project for Mr. Henry Chang and that I am able to present a positive Asian-American male role model on screen.

Patrick Chen is a filmmaker from Queens, New York. His works typically draws from the lives of Asian American characters. He attended Hunter CUNY where he studied writing and film.

His films were accepted and screened at various film festivals, e.g. CAAMFest, LAAPFF, and Asian Cinevision, and featured on Xfinity, Museum of Chinese in America, and Sinovision.

You may find his additional works as Chén Xí Háo 陳錫豪.

For more Info: https://linktr.ee/chenxihao

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