Mayor Ed Lee biopic set to get festival screenings

A documentary film on Ed Lee, the first Chinese-American mayor of San Francisco, has been selected for a film festival and is scheduled for more screenings in the United States.

The film Mayor Ed Lee is sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of America, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the history and contributions of Chinese Americans in the United States.

The hourlong documentary contains stories and reflections from Lee's family members, friends and colleagues.

Lee, the son of working-class immigrants, was a San Francisco Chinatown lawyer, a champion of civil rights and equal opportunity, and the first Chinese American mayor of a major US city.

The film has been selected for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in May, Jane Chin, the interim executive director of CHSA, says.

Besides the screening at the film festival, there are plans to show the film to donors and Lee's family in San Francisco and Seattle, Washington state, she says.

Lee, who was born in Seattle to Chinese immigrant parents, graduated from law school at the University of California in Berkeley. And he then worked at the Asian Law Caucus for 13 years.

Lee became San Francisco's mayor in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015.

He died of a heart attack on Dec 12, 2017, at the age of 65.

"While at the Asian Law Caucus, Ed worked on many key cases, including a rent strike by the Ping Yuen Housing Project tenants to demand better living conditions," says Chin.

"Ed's work with these tenants led to victory, and he went on to continue to work to improve the quality of lives of those living in Chinatown."

"As a mayor, his relations with China were very strong. So, whenever and wherever he visited China, he was welcomed, and he appreciated the gracious manner in which he and his traveling companions were received," says Chin.

"Also, he was quick to return the hospitality whenever Chinese officials visited San Francisco."

In June last year, when the CHSA launched the documentary film project, they had hoped to raise $50,000 at GoFund-Me.com, a popular crowdfunding platform based in the Bay Area, about 43 kilometers south of San Francisco.

Through the organization, however, they raised nearly $103,000 from 117 donors in eight months.

"The funds will be used to further enhance the film. And we are still interviewing key individuals who had a special relationship with Mayor Lee," says Chin.

"Also, we intend to make the film available to schools so that students can learn about this remarkable man and this will entail editing the film to make it shorter to meet classroom time constraints," she says.

Reuters