Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Christine Choy died December 7 at the age of 73. Her artistry and craft undergird “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” the Detroit PBS co-produced documentary that chronicled how Asian American communities became galvanized in the aftermath of Vincent Chin’s death.

In 1988, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” was nominated for an Academy Award. In 2021, the film was inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry, and the following year, the 40^th anniversary of Chin’s death, POV rebroadcast the documentary.

To mark the occasion, Detroit PBS produced its own look back at this key moment in Asian American history. In the video, filmmakers Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña, along with the film’s executive producer Juanita Anderson of Detroit PBS, told the story of making the documentary.

To interview Choy, One Detroit Senior Producer Bill Kubota and Detroit-area filmmaker Chien-An Yuan visited her in New York, where she recounted her experience making the film and its place in American history.

Kubota shares his memories of the trip.

In April 2022, Chien-An Yuan and I interviewed Christine Choy at her apartment near New York University, where she was a professor.

She spoke fondly about Bob Larson, former general manager of Detroit PBS (which was called WTVS at the time,) and Juanita Anderson, journalist and executive producer of “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” The station was co-producer of the film.

Choy was bombastic and funny, gleefully showing us one of her recent films, an animated short called “Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy,” in which she goes to Canada to buy cheaper cigarettes.

Choy approached filmmaking as an artist.

“I’m an immigrant here; something abstract is always hanging in front of me,” she said. “I’ve got to do something meaningful in my lifetime. I don’t want to be idle.”

Choy had trained to be an architect but turned to filmmaking, telling us she started making films in 1972.

Choy pointed out that while there were some women directors at the time, very few were cinematographers, those who hefted the cameras.

Most of “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” was shot on her Arriflex film camera.

“Mind you, the machine was not built for a woman’s body,” Choy said. “It weighs 30 pounds. With a battery belt, it’s bigger.”

She also reflected on the collaborative process of filmmaking and the strengths she brought to it.

“I’m a good researcher,” she said. Another one of her strengths was working a motion picture camera.

“I can see the color; I can see the composition.”

During that visit in 2022, she reflected on the impact of the film decades later and her role in bringing it to life.

“It became part of the syllabus for a lot of Asian American studies from high school all the way to college,” Choy said.

“I’m very glad … to contribute to the history of America.”