SINNERS Cultural Consultant Dolly Li on the Delta Chinese, Docs, and That Licking Line

These stories played a

uniquely important role in the segregated South, serving the Black community when the white community wouldn't.

And this was significant because it meant more than 70% of the population got their groceries and everyday goods from a tiny Chinese community.

Frida's family store in Minsang started out in the 1930s as two different buildings across the street from each other.

One serving black people, the other serving white people.

Neither black nor white, the Chinese community found themselves in the middle.

It was like a three-lane road.

There were the whites and the blacks and the Chinese.

You've done work around this community for

so long and you had told their story in like a nonfiction format.

So what was it like to see the film for the first time?

You know, the first time I got to watch the film, I was honestly so nervous.

Because you don't know how things will be portrayed, right? And I do feel a deep sense of responsibility for protecting this community, even...

Even being able to do this documentary with them back in 2017, that in and of itself was, it was an uphill battle because they didn't trust a lot of outsiders, right? And this is like a recurring thing with documentarians, but also if you are a documentarian of minority communities, right? A lot of immigrant communities don't trust media because they feel like the media is always out to get like a gotcha moment,

right?

So they were hesitant to even make that film, the one with Al Jazeera, the one that I did with them.

So when I didn't, I couldn't tell them exactly what was happening in the film because I myself didn't know.

I was so nervous watching it for the first time.

I was like, oh my God, I hope this is okay.

Otherwise it's like my name on the line if they're misportrayed, right? Not that I thought that they would be, but you never know.

Right.

And then once the scene came where you could see the two stores, the two stores inspired by Frida's family stores, a store on like the white side of town and the black side of town.

I was so relieved and I was so excited.

My fiance was with me and he, and I just like remember grabbing his arms so hard.

I was like, oh my God, like they did it.