Take Out

TAKE OUT is a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding (Charles Jang), an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Ming is behind with payments on his huge debt to the smugglers who brought him to the United States. The collectors have given him until the end of the day to deliver the money that is due. After borrowing most of the money from friends and relatives, Ming realizes that the remainder must come from the day's delivery tips. In order to do so, he must make more than double his average daily income.

In a social-realist style, the camera follows Ming on his deliveries throughout the upper Manhattan neighborhood where social and economic extremes exist side by side. Intercutting between Ming's deliveries and the daily routine of the restaurant, TAKE OUT presents a harshly real look at the daily lives of illegal Chinese immigrants in New York City.

Co-director Sean Baker will be on-hand to introduce the film and answer questions after the screening. Sean is in Austin serving as one of the panelists for the Austin Film Society's 2008 Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund, a grant program for Texas filmmakers. For more information on TFPF, click here.