Arthur Dong with his Golden Horse award.

Greg Pak: Congrats on the success of the film! Tell us about the most interesting audience reaction you've had so far.

Arthur Dong: One white viewer sheepishly admitted that the Charlie Chan films were his guilty pleasure and they actually helped him survive a childhood attack of chicken pox: Miserable in bed, his mom showed him every Chan film available on video because they were the only thing that made him forget his discomfort. That was so, how should I describe it... endearing... both his story and confession. I assured him, and subsequently many other white audience members as well, that while some troublesome misrepresentations resulted from the Chan films, millions of fans still cherish fond memories like his. But by viewing "Hollywood Chinese," I hope they can appreciate and see how media creates and perpetuates stereotypes. My goal with "Hollywood Chinese" was to both celebrate and critique the history of the Chinese in American feature films; I wanted to explore films from a number of perspectives and certainly the popularity of the Chan films is an important part of the story.

GP: Return engagements of films to any town are pretty remarkable. How did the return to New York at the Imaginasian come about?

AD: Our opening weekend attendance at the Quad Cinema where we opened in Manhattan was decent for a self-distributed independent documentary, but not good enough for the theater to keep the film on screen. From a business standpoint I understand their decision; it is, after all, a business. But at the same time, I was heading into a fourth-week holdover at a San Francisco venue so I felt that perhaps we just didn't get the word out to enough people - especially since our New York reviews were really terrific. Luckily Gregory Chang at Imaginasian Theater was thinking the same thing. I've also been receiving requests from people to bring the film back. So we'll have this second-wind, and it's been great because Imaginasian cares about the film and have been working with us on the grass roots outreach.

GP: Did you attend the Golden Horse awards? What did it mean to you to win that particular prize?

AD: I've know about the Golden Horse Awards for quite some time because I've been going to Chinese language films since I was a kid growing up in San Francisco Chinatown (can you believe there were once five movie houses operating in that neighborhood, with all of them showing Chinese films to full houses?!). I've also been to the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei with my other films and actually attended a ceremony back in 1994. Now firstly, "Hollywood Chinese" was selected as one of two opening night films for their 2007 festival, the first documentary ever to kick off the festival - so that was an honor already. And then to be nominated and actually win? I mean, I figured I had more chances of winning an Oscar® than a Golden Horse! It was a fun event, especially the entertainment - I got to catch up on pop culture in Asia and saw live performances by some top acts. After the post-party, I went bar hopping with the Best Screenplay winner for Home Song Stories, Tony Aryes. It was a trip! Folks crowded around us and begged to touch, fondle actually, and take pictures with the Golden Horse trophy -- I realized just what the prize meant to film fans in Asia - it was their version of the Oscars®!

GP: Where does the film go next? What's next for Arthur Dong?

AD: We've got stops at festivals in Seoul and Jerusalem, and then engagements in Canada, Honolulu, and Cleveland with more requests to be confirmed. For whatever reason, I've received a lot more invitations to accompany Hollywood Chinese than any of my other films, and that's vitally important for distribution. But I became a dad right after we wrapped production and it has been, and continues to be, a struggle to balance work and family. To be honest, I'd rather be home spending more time with my son, but then there's that college fund looming, and you know, filmmaking is really like an addiction that I can't do without for very long.

For more about "Hollywood Chinese," including screening dates and locations, visit the official website.