"Take Out" | Faces of Migration: Classic and Contemporary Feature Film Series

Take Out
(2004, United States, dirs.: Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou)

From Directors Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project) and Shih-Ching Tsou, Take Out is a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding, an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Ming is behind with his payments on his huge debt to the smugglers who brought him to the US. The collectors have given him until the end of the day to deliver the money that is due. After borrowing most from friends and relatives, Ming realizes that the remainder must come from the day’s delivery tips. In order to do so, he must make more than double his average daily income. In a social-realist style, the camera follows Ming on his deliveries throughout the upper Manhattan neighborhood where social and economic extremes exist side by side. Intercutting between Ming’s deliveries and the daily routine of the restaurant, Take Out presents a harsh and realistic look at the daily lives of illegal Chinese immigrants in present day New York City. Watch the trailer.

Introduced by Dr. Madeline Y. Hsu, Professor of History, and faculty af liate of Asian American Studies, Asian Studies, and Mexican American and Latina_o Studies, at the University of Texas at Austin, with discussion following. Free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary. Part of the “Faces of Migration: Classic and Contemporary Feature Film Series.”

Migration is a deeply human experience across all parts of the world, even as specific conditions of need, gender, geography, culture, and coercion frame particular journeys. The feature films in this series capture the emotions and stories of migrants in a multitude of settings. Each film will be introduced by a faculty member and followed by discussion of the film and the questions it raises about migration as a common experience that can both divide and unite us.

Films will be screened alternate Tuesdays in CLA, Glickman Conference Center. 7 pm. Parking: Brazos Garage, 210 E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.. Open to the UT Austin community and the public.

Presented by Not Even PastThe Department of History, and Institute of Historical Studies, with generous co-sponsorship of Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American StudiesCenter for Mexican American StudiesCenter for European StudiesCenter for East Asian StudiesCenter for Asian American StudiesDepartment of American StudiesDepartment of Radio-Television-Film, and Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018 at 7:00pm

Patton Hall (RLP), 1.302E
305 23RD ST E, Austin, Texas 78712

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