The Fall of the I-Hotel + Manilatown Manang Screenings

The Manilatown Heritage Foundation presents a newly restored edition of Curtis Choy’s landmark 1983 documentary chronicling the historic struggle to save San Francisco’s International Hotel. Newly re-scanned from a pristine 16mm print and digitized in 2K, this restoration brings renewed life to one of the most important works in Asian American cinema. Documenting the decade-long campaign to prevent the eviction of the hotel’s elderly Filipino and Chinese tenants, the film captures a defining moment in the fight for affordable housing, civil rights, and community self-determination. More than four decades after its release, remains both an essential record of Filipino American history and a powerful reminder of the enduring struggles against displacement and inequality. This restoration was completed by the Manilatown Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and FotoKem.