Who Killed Vincent Chin?

Directed by Christine Choy, Renee Tajima-Peña

1987•87 min
Topic
Justice
Language
English
Featured in
Activist Cinema

Synopsis

This film recounts the murder of Vincent Chin, an automotive engineer mistaken as Japanese who was slain by an assembly line worker who blamed him for the competition by the Japanese auto makers that were threatening his job. It then recounts how that murderer escaped justice in the court system. Restored by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, in association with the Museum of Chinese in America. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, with additional support provided by Todd Phillips.

Trailer

Selected Awards

Winner

Peabody Award

(1990)

Winner

Hawaii International Film Festival

Best Documentary (1987)

Winner

International Documentary Association Award

(1987)

Winner

National Film Registry

(2021)

Nominee

Academy Award

Best Documentary Feature (1988)

Footnote

  1. Social impact

    Documents Vincent Chin's 1982 murder and the lenient sentencing that followed, widely credited with contributing to the modern Asian American civil rights movement — selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry in 2021

Main Cast

LCLily ChinHerself
RERonald EbensHimself
MNMichael NitzHimself
CKCharles KaufmanHimself
HZHelen ZiaHerself

Directors