Dragon’s Gate
In rural Kentucky, Chinese-American entrepreneur Angie Yu is beloved for building the country’s first large-scale processing plant for invasive Asian carp, known as “the most hated fish in America”. When unforeseen scrutiny from authorities upends her business, Dragon’s Gate becomes a wry, intimate portrait of belonging, identity, and resilience in America.
In the small river town of Wickliffe, Kentucky, Chinese-American entrepreneur Angie Yu has spent more than a decade building an unlikely business: America’s first large-scale processing plant for invasive Asian carp, a fish reviled across the United States as an ecological menace. Where others see a worthless nuisance, Angie sees opportunity.
As mounting pressures threaten the business she has spent years creating, from Covid-19 and a surge in anti-Asian rhetoric, to the global disruption of supply chains, to an unexpected visit from federal authorities, Angie finds herself at the center of larger questions about identity, immigration, and belonging. Through her story and the contentious history of the fish itself, the film reveals surprising connections between ecological invasions and cultural attitudes toward outsiders in contemporary America.
Blending observational storytelling, culinary interludes, and the enduring Chinese legend of the Dragon’s Gate, this documentary short opens timely reflections on who belongs and who is empowered to shape change.
Film Topics Include:
Alizé Carrère
DirectorWill Miller
ProducerDonate to this Fiscally Sponsored Project
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