AAPI filmmaker behind “She Marches in Chinatown” killed Sunday night by speeding driver

By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Della Chen, the Seattle filmmaker behind the educational, stereotype-breaking documentary, “She Marches in Chinatown,” was hit and killed Sunday night by a speeding driver, the Seattle Times reported.

The 53-year-old Chen and her family were in a car headed north late Sunday when they were hit by the driver, who is suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Chen’s 18-year-old daughter and 58-year-old husband survived and were uninjured, the Times said.

Chen was a documentary photographer, whose more-than-20-year-long body of work told the stories of families and weddings, and encompassed the commercial and editorial sphere. She was also involved in multimedia projects about homelessness and elder care, and started teaching photography to children with cancer in 2018, through nonprofit organization Pablove Foundation’s Pablove Shutterbugs program. “She Marches in Chinatown” was her first documentary film.

The film tells the story of 70-year-old Seattle’s Chinese Community Drill Team, started in 1952 by Ruby Chow, whom Chen wrote was her “inspiration.” Until this drill team, the film’s site says, there were no extracurricular activities for Asian American girls—and even after it was created, it remained the only one of its kind in the world.

“Despite gentrification, Title IX, and a global pandemic,” the site continues, “seventy years later, the drill team continues to define, represent, and celebrate the evolving Asian American experience of its dedicated multigenerational participants.”

In her director’s statement on the film’s site, Chen wrote that she had “always wanted to be a part of,” but “regretfully” never was.

“Born and raised a first-generation Seattleite, my family enthusiastically looked forward to the annual Seafair Torchlight Parade,” Chen wrote. “Seeing the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team perform gave our family this kind of Asian connection to an American tradition.”

When her own daughter turned 11, Chen suggested she join the drill team. Her daughter’s reaction, Chen wrote, was to realize that she did not have many Asian friends in her school or neighborhood in North Seattle. This prompted Chen to learn more about the drill team’s background and history. She wrote that she was “astounded that this story has never been told in a film.”

“With the rise in Anti-Asian hate and the climate of the world,” Chen wrote, “I want this film to make an impact on this generation, to take better care of our blending cultures and community.”

“Ruby Chow is my inspiration,” Chen continued. “An unintimidated, American-born Chinese woman that cared about her community and made a difference. She was bad-ass.”

The film is scheduled for screenings around the country, and was just screened in New York City, with Chen and her daughter in attendance. The film’s site says that the film is available with a lesson plan for educational institutions “to teach young students about the value of tradition, culture, and break the stereotypes of Asian American females.”