Your Day Is My Night

The bed becomes stage as immigrant residents of a shift-bed apartment in the heart of Manhattan's Chinatown are both performers and participants, storytellers and actors. Sharing their experiences as migrants and city dwellers, they reveal the intimacies and complexities of urban living.

“I think of the bed as an extension of the earth,” says experimental documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs. In this moving hybrid documentary/performance piece, the bed becomes stage as immigrant residents of a shift-bed apartment in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown are both performers and participants, storytellers and actors. Sharing their experiences as migrants and city dwellers, they reveal the intimacies and complexities of urban living.

Filmmaker Lynne Sachs and performers Linda Y.H. Chan, Ellen Ho, Yun Xiu Huang, and Sheut Hing Lee participate in a post-screening conversation moderated by Karen Shimakawa (Chair of Performance Studies at NYU, Tisch School of the Arts).

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Co-sponsored by the Center for Media, Culture and History and the Center for Religion and Media.

Lynne Sachs makes films, videos, installations, and web projects that explore the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences by weaving together poetry, collage, painting, politics, and layered sound design. Since 1994, her five essay films have taken her to Vietnam, Bosnia, Israel and Germany—sites affected by international war—where she tries to work in the space between a community’s collective memory and her own subjective perceptions. Strongly committed to a dialogue between cinematic theory and practice, Lynne searches for a rigorous play between image and sound, pushing the visual and aural textures in her work with each and every new project. Supported by fellowships from the Rockefeller and Jerome Foundations and the New York State Council on the Arts, Lynne’s films have screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and in a five film survey at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival. Lynne teaches experimental film and video at New York University.

Linda Y.H. Chan performs classical Chinese folk dance with the Lin Sing Manhattan DanceGroup and the Yun Ji Dance Group. Committed to the health and well-being of her local community, she is a volunteer Tai Chi and Fan dance teacher in a variety of Chinatown parks and schools. Linda is head of volunteers at the Lin Sing Association in Chinatown.

Ellen Ho was born in Guangdong, China but left for Hong Kong and Macao when she was 23 years old, later arriving in the US in the early 60s at age 27. She raised her two sons here in New York, and lives here with the rest of her family. She has no longer has any relatives in Guangdong. She worked as a seamstress most of her life and now is a grandmother. An active member of the Lin Sing Association, Ellen performs regularly in Chinese classical dance exhibitions throughout New York City. Her favorite moments during the production of Your Day is My Night included chatting with other performers and sharing their stories. Having been in New York for many years, she has gradually fallen in love with life in the United States. 

Yun Xiu Huang came to New York City from Fujian Provence almost twenty years ago. Throughout his time in the United States, he has worked as a professional singer and musician. His extraordinary voice has made him a renowned performer at weddings and banquets in the New York City Chinese community.  

Sheut Hing Lee was born in Hong Kong and came to the United States in the 1960s. She worked as a seamstress until her recent retirement. A member of the Lin Sing Association, Sheut Hing takes a great interest in her community’s cultural and social activities. She is also an eager participant in mahjong games with other seniors in her Chinatown neighborhood.  

Karen Shimakawa is the Chair of Performance Studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an adjunct instructor at the NYU School of Law. Her research focuses on critical race theory and Asian American performance.