With unparalleled access to a diverse cross section of politically engaged Chinese Americans, FIRST VOTE offers a character-driven verité look at Chinese American electoral organizing in North Carolina and Ohio. The film weaves their stories from the presidential election of 2016 to the 2018 midterms, and explores the intersections between immigration, voting rights and racial justice.
Washington D.C. based documentary filmmaker Yi Chen is a Soros Equality Fellow and DC Arts and Humanities Fellow. Her debut feature First Vote - about Asian American voters in battleground states - is an official selection at the 2020 AFI DOCS, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival, CAAMFest, LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, and more. The film is playing in virtual cinema followed by national broadcast premiere on WORLD Channel's American ReFramed series in October. It's also currently on a campus and community tour across the US through GOOD DOCS and its GOOD TALKS speaker series.
Yi's work has been supported by the Ford Foundation JustFilms, Open Society Foundations, Center for Asian American Media, ITVS, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Kartemquin Films and Southern Documentary Fund. Yi holds an MFA in Film and Media Arts from American University and taught documentary filmmaking at George Mason University.
