• Photo: Nancy Wong
  • Photo: Nancy Wong
  • Photo: Nancy Wong

SUBJECTS

Asian Americans -- San Francisco (Calif.) -- Drama, Chinese Americans -- Drama, San Francisco (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- Drama, Taxicab drivers -- San Francisco (Calif.) -- Drama

Chan Is Missing

New 35mm Print

  • In Person

    Among the diverse films Wayne Wang has directed, his works focusing on Asian American cultures include Eat a Bowl of Tea, Dim Sum, The Joy Luck Club, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

A small, whimsical treasure of a film.

Roger Ebert
featuring

Wood Moy, Marc Hayashi, Lauren Chew, Peter Wang,

Following its local premiere at BAMPFA and critical acclaim at New Directors/New Films, this groundbreaking independent hit inspired generations of filmmakers and was named to the National Film Registry. Today it still seems fresh, intelligent, inventive. Playing with the pleasures and conceits of film noir, Wang imbues his irreverent puzzler with humor and a Chinese philosophical perspective: what isn’t there is as important as what is. Wood Moy is a natural as Jo, a San Francisco taxi driver, who with ABC nephew Steve (Marc Hayashi) turns detective in pursuit of FOB Chan. Their search illuminates complex identities and allegiances as mystery blends with social documentary. Wang’s love for cinema shines throughout.

FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Wayne Wang
  • Isaac Cronin
  • Terrel Seltzer
Cinematographer
  • Michael Chin
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 35mm
  • 80 mins
Source
  • BAMPFA
Permission
  • Wayne Wang
CINEFILES

CineFiles is an online database of BAMPFA's extensive collection of documentation covering world cinema, past and present.

View Chan Is Missing documents  

Chan is missing (program note), National Asian American Telecommunications Association, Taro Goto, 2002

Chan is missing (program note), San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, 1995

Chan is missing: A breakthrough film (article), Asian CineVision, Diane Mark, 1987

Wood Moy: 'typical' Chinese American with an atypical job (article), East West (San Francisco, Calif.), Diane Yen-Mei Wong, 1983

Chan is missing (program note), Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, 1983

Chan is missing marks new age of Asian American film (article), East West (San Francisco, Calif.), Wing Tek Lum, 1982

Chan is missing (press kit), New Yorker Films, 1982

Citizen Chan (review), East Bay Express, Kelly Vance, 1982

Chan is missing (review), Variety, Todd McCarthy, 1982

Broadcast excerpt (broadcast transcript), Radio TV Reports, Inc., 1982

Displaying 10 of 27 publicly available documents.


View all Chan Is Missing documentation on CineFiles.

Followed By

Dim Sum Take-Out

Wayne Wang, United States, 1987

A bittersweet music-filled tale of five singing, screaming, dancing friends—Chinatown women who dream big.

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 35mm
  • 12 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Wayne Wang