Film Festival Preview |Films at the Gate showcases Chinese film culture under the stars in Chinatown

    What could be better than seeing a movie under the stars? Seeing several free movies under the stars is a good start.
    Back in Chinatown for its third year, Films at the Gate is a five-night celebration of Chinese cinema. The vacant lot at 12 Hudson St. by Boston's Chinatown Gate has been transformed into a free outdoor theater, showing a nightly kung fu or classic Chinese-language film until this Sunday.
    This year's movie selection includes classics such as "Police Story" (1983), Jackie Chan's first big silver-screen success, "My Young Auntie" (1981), a kung fu comedy about a young woman who helps an old man save his estate by entering into a marriage of convenience, and "Red Heroine" (1929), a movie recognized for the oldest swordplay in film.
    "Red Heroine," showing Friday night, is a silent martial arts film and will even include a live music soundtrack, performed by Devil Music Ensemble, during its screening.
    "We're doing something very special Friday night, having the ensemble play live music. We've shown silent movies in the past, but we've never had live music to accompany the films, so that's exciting," said Sam Davol, one of the co-founders of this festival.
    On Saturday night, Films at the Gate will also be showing "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" (1978), the kung fu hit that inspired most martial arts movies. Also known as "Master Killer," the movie tells the story of a Shaolin monk, San Te (played by Gordon Liu), who masters the 35 training chambers of Shaolin kung fu and persuades his monastery to establish a 36th chamber to train more monks to fight the oppressive Qing dynasty of the time.
    The festival concludes on Sunday night with "Iron Monkey" (1993), featuring Boston martial-arts master Donnie Yen. Yen is best known for his role as General Lan in "Once Upon a Time in China II" (1992) and especially remembered for his final fight scene against Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li). Yen returned to battle in "Hero" (2002), which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2003 Academy Awards.
    The martial arts expert has come to show his talent in areas outside of taekwondo and wushu, expanding his talent to choreographing fights, acting and directing and producing films. Yen will appear acting and fighting in "Painted Skin," (2008) scheduled for release at the end of this month.
    Films at the Gate will serve as a reminder to locals of the tradition of film in Boston's Chinatown. According to Jean Lukitsh, former film projectionist and the curator of the film series, up until the late 1980s, Chinatown used to have three movie theaters.
    "In their heyday, the theaters showed double-features three times a day, often to packed houses from midday to midnight. Whole families would attend, and children would often play in the aisles," Lukitsh wrote on the event's website. The three theaters were eventually forced to close down, for all the cinemas were losing popularity with the growing availability of home video rentals.
    Through collaboration between several Chinatown residents, in particular Sam Davol, his wife, Leslie, and Lukitsh, as well as the Asian Community Development Corporation, Chinatown's cinema is back for the next four days. The film series in its current form began in 2006.
    "My family and I moved from New York City in 2006, and we moved to a place across from an empty lot," Davol said. "We wanted to do something with the space, which was completely unused."
    Davol and his wife met Jeremy Liu, the current executive director of the Asian Community Development Corporation, who shared the couple's vision. Together with Lukitsh, they came up with the idea of screening films.
    "We're hoping to inspire small, independent events like this in Boston, especially in under-utilized spaces," Davol said. "We want this event to show people that there is a community in downtown Boston, and we want to make impressions not only on those passing by on a bus but those in our neighborhood."
    The event isn't only about appreciating Chinese cinema and seeing films outdoors. "Originally, we also came up with this idea so we could gather people together," Davol explained. "People like to come to the event after eating at restaurants beforehand. We want our event to boost local business in Chinatown — Chinatown needs this."
    According to Davol, there's a lot happening in Chinatown, including an art gallery opening at 12 Hudson St. and affordable housing being built.
    As much as [Films at the Gate] is a film event, it is a community development event for everyone." For those coming, "Feel free to bring take-out!" Davol said.
    Films at the Gate runs through Sunday night with nightly screenings beginning at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.