''9-Man'' is a 2014 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the sport

9-man 9-man (also nine-man, nineman, 9man) is a volleyball team sport utilizing nine players per side and a slightly larger court (10 by 20 meters). Historically, the sport was played by Chinese immigrants to the US, who predominantly hailed from Toisa ...

played in Chinatowns in the U.S. and Canada. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "an absorbing documentary." The film, which had its world premiere at IFFBoston on April 27, 2014, won six film festival awards and was broadcast on the PBS

World Channel WORLD Channel, also branded as WORLD, is an American digital multicast public television network owned and operated by the WGBH Educational Foundation. It is distributed by American Public Television and the National Educational Telecommunicatio ...

series ''

America ReFramed ''America ReFramed'' is a weekly independent documentary series broadcast on World Channel.Allison Willmor"America ReFramed brings 52 weeks of docs to PBS's WORLD Channel,"''IndieWire'', September 11, 2012. Retrieved 2013-11-13. Since 2012, Ameri ...

'' on May 5, 2015 and January 24, 2017. The film, which follows the all-male sport of 9-man, was produced by a largely female crew, led by first-time director Ursula Liang and editor Michelle Chang. Featured in the film are U.S. volleyball Olympian and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

commentator

Kevin Wong Kevin Kahn Wong (born September 12, 1972, in Honolulu, Hawaii) is a retired professional beach volleyball player. He currently lives in Hawaii and runs a volleyball training program for youth. Personal life Wong graduated from the Punahou ...

and Chinatown historian

John Kuo Wei Tchen John Kuo Wei Tchen, also known as Jack, is a historian of Chinese American history and the Inaugural Clement A. Price Chair in Public History and Humanities at Rutgers University. Biography Tchen received his B.A. at the University of Wisconsin� ...

. 9-Man also features the now deceased "mayor" of Boston's Chinatown, Reggie Wong, who was a leader in the 9-man community. 9-Man was part of the SkyFest series on

Virgin America Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost U.S. airline that operated from 2007 until 2018, when it was acquired by Alaska Airlines. The airline primarily focused on operating low-fare service between cities on the West Coast and other major metropoli ...

airlines in the summer of 2015. The music for the film was written by Adam Rubenstein and Scott

CHOPS CHOPS is the stage name of Scott Jung, also known as Scott Chops Jung, an Asian American hip hop producer, rapper and former member of the Asian American Hip-Hop group, the Mountain Brothers. Jung grew up in Philadelphia and has Chinese ancestry ...

Jung, the pioneering Chinese-American hip-hop producer and member of

Mountain Brothers Mountain Brothers was an American hip hop group originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Named after the legend of 108 mountain bandits depicted in the Chinese novel ''Water Margin'', Mountain Brothers are considered cultural pioneers, being ...

Synopsis

The documentary follows several modern-day 9-man teams throughout one season framed by a historical portrait of

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

history and the game of 9-man. The first act of the film introduces the Boston Knights, Washington CYC (Chinese Youth Club), Toronto Connex, and the Boston Freemasons as they begin the season preparing for competition with other teams. As the first act closes a character from New York Haiyan Townsmen is introduced, and East Coast regional teams compete in the New York Mini tournament crowning an early-season favorite. The second act of the film introduces the history of the game—traveling to Toisan (

Taishan __NOTOC__ Taishan may refer to: *Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China *Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China *Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China **Gre ...

), China—and its modern-day rules, which include limiting participation by players who are not "100% Chinese." The sport and isolation of the game are revealed as direct descendants of the

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...

and racism faced by the community. The final act of the film unites the characters, teams, and conflicts at the

NACIVT The North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament (N.A.C.I.V.T.) is held every Labor Day weekend and features men's nine-man (9-man) and women's 6's volleyball teams. The tournament is generally held outdoors and played on pavement, wi ...

championship tournament in Boston's Chinatown, setting up Olympian

as the player to beat. As teams fight for the title, they also bring to light the cultural belonging and loss of the modern Chinatown and 9-man community. The film concludes with a scene featuring the funeral of a beloved community member and another scene where 9-man leaders contemplate moving the tournament to a new city—with no Chinatown.

Awards

* Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary, CAAMFest * Audience Award, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival * Special Jury Prize: Best Director, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival * Grand Jury Award, Best Documentary Feature, Austin Asian American Film Festival * Director's Choice Award, Seattle Asian American Film Festival * Audience Award, Best Feature Documentary, Boston Asian American Film Festival

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2986300 2014 films American sports documentary films Films about Chinese Canadians Films about Chinese Americans Canadian sports documentary films Documentary films about Asian Americans Documentary films about race and ethnicity in the United States Documentary films about racism Documentary films about immigration Chinese-language American films 2010s American films 2010s Canadian films