Set in 1980s NYC, two Chinese immigrant restaurant workers find love while facing hardships chasing their American dreams.

Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Cindy Chu

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

Bayard Street grew from a conversation with my dad about how my immigrant parents met in the 1980s N.Y.C. and the struggles they faced to financially support our family and arguments they had that stemmed from their different class backgrounds. My dad was a working-class waiter from China while my mom was a wealthier immigrant from Taiwan. I wondered how these seemingly different people fell in love in a country that doesn’t love them back.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

If you want an honest story about love and the immigrant experience without a tragic ending, this film is for you. It was created by an all-female producing team and has a cast and crew made up of a majority of POC who either lived this experience or came from a family that did in a previous generation. This film was in collaboration with the community it represents and was shot in locations that are Chinese and Taiwanese-owned businesses. The cast was a mix of actors and non-actors that poured their hearts into their characters, and the music score and visuals are pure poetry and capture the beauty and harshness of the immigrant life in New York City and pursuing the American Dream.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

Inspired by my parents, Bayard Street became a story of Andy and Mei Ching, young lovers filled with hope and romance, but soon realize the American Dream isn’t all it’s cut out to be. They reflect similar experiences to most Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants during the 1980s when the best possible options were to work in restaurants where very few people rise up to the corporate world.

This film honors the people who’ve faced harsh realities and sacrifices in order to build better lives in America. My hope is for second-generation Americans like me, to further understand our parents’ realities and what they gave up to build better lives for us.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

It was originally a feature script and gained traction with Northeast Filmmakers Lab, was a grand prize winner of Pitch Royale (judged by Oscar winners, Baz Luhrmann and Jason Blum), was in the 2nd round for Sundance Development track, and then received Hennessy’s Unfinished Business Fund and Queens Council on the Arts’ New Work Grant to shoot the short film version. The film was truly a collaboration of the cast, crew, and our post-production team. The dialogue is fully in Mandarin and Cantonese which I barely speak so I relied heavily on the cast and our script supervisor to fluidly translate the script from English to Chinese and I gave them room to improvise as they see fit while maintaining the integrity of the scenes. In the original script, one of the characters, Andy is supposed to be a waiter at a different restaurant and having a night out with his friends, but to keep the short film tighter, I changed it so that Andy and his friends work with Mei Ching work at the same restaurant. Overall the short film still captures the essence of the feature script version.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

Many audience members of my generation who come from immigrant families, see their parents in this story and shared how the characters resonated with them. Also, they found it beautiful for me to be able to see my parents as young people who had their own hopes and dreams.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

Though our core audience is comprised of Asian Americans, I’ve also received feedback from the Latinx community on how their families went through similar things such as immigrating to the US and working in restaurants in order to get by and pursue their American Dreams. This film is very much reflective of the immigrant experience in a universal way.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

I admire We Are Moving Stories for amplifying diverse Millennial and Gen Z content while having over 50% of contributors be women. Our film fits that demographic perfectly, and I hope to have Bayard Street reach more audience members who care about niche yet universal stories like ours as well as the diverse cast and crew that created it.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Our film is looking for more film festivals to showcase in and would like to connect with more film fest directors and journalists to amply our film’s message and bring more publicity to further reach our intended audience. We are also in need of distribution thereafter so we are seeking sales agents, buyers, and distributors. Because this short film was originally a feature script, I’m also seeking producers to come on board to help shepherd this story into a feature film.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I hope people empathize more with the hardships that immigrants face in building a life in America and that the next time people enter a Chinese restaurant, they realize that the workers have gone through many obstacles just to be there.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Does the American Dream truly exist and how do you define it?

Would you like to add anything else?

This film was built through grassroots efforts from the grants we received: Hennessy’s Unfinished Business Fund and Queens Council on the Arts’ New Work Grants which supports local artists and Asian American stories. Thank you to our crowdfunders who believed in our work, the Asian American filmmakers and entrepreneurs who took part in our crowdfunding campaign to further amplify our message, and to the producers who helped me as a first-time director to produce this immigrant story in New York City on an indie budget level. I’m eternally grateful to our amazing cast, crew, and post-production team for building this film alongside me, to the Chinese and Taiwanese immigrant community for sharing their location spaces with us, and to my parents for allowing me to tell their story.

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I'm developing a new script through the Mentorship Matters fellowship (mentored by Angela Kang, showrunner of The Walking Dead) and currently working on her new series, Silk: Spider Society as a Writers PA.

Interview: June 2023

We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

Bayard Street

Set in 1980s NYC, two Chinese immigrant restaurant workers find love while facing hardships chasing their American dreams.

Length: 15:37

Director: Cindy Chu

Producer: Mikel Butler

Writer: Cindy Chu

About the writer, director and producer:

CINDY CHU was born and raised in Queens in a Chinese and Taiwanese immigrant family. She didn’t have a close relationship with her parents growing up which led to her curiosity about their lives and eventually wrote Bayard Street in honor of their journey in America. This is Cindy’s debut as a director. She took visual inspiration from prominent directors such as LuLu Wang, Alan Yang, and Wong Kar Wai. To create realistic performances, she casts a mix of actors and real-life people to bring her stories to life. Even more importantly, she works with teams and locations that are rooted in the community and story that she’s telling. The feature script version of Bayard Street won Pitch Royale and received grants to shoot the short film version. Cindy is also a Mentorship Matters fellow.

MIKEL BUTLER hails from Los Angeles and Montana. She started as an actor, studying at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and acquiring supporting roles in independent features. As her interest in photography and filmmaking grew, she shifted to behind-the-camera work. She started working in commercial production for brands including Maybelline and Spotify. She has also worked professionally as a commercial production coordinator, has been an HBO Women in Comedy Finalist, and produced several short films.

Key cast: Genevieve Shi (Mei Ching), Haosong Yang (Andy), Andy Chu (Manager), XiaoXiao Sun (Ray), Shu Hang Chan (Cook), Hung Choy Chung (Kitchen Helper), Kamila Hoe (Girl One), Jenna You (Girl Two), Victor Zheng (Man), Cindy Chu (Cashier)

Looking for: sales agents, journalists, distributors, film festival directors, buyers, producers

Facebook: Bayard Street Short Film

Twitter: @Bayardstfilm

Instagram: @bayardstfilm

Hashtags used: #bayardstfilm

Other: IMDb

Made in association with: Besties Make Movies

Funders: Queens Council on the Arts, Seed & Spark

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?

Austin Asian American Film Festiva/Austin, TX - June 21-25; Dances with Films/Los Angeles, CA - June 29