May Lee Restaurant

We entered May Lee, a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, with one mission: to talk about the hardships small restaurants faced during COVID. After just five minutes, we quickly realized… May Lee didn’t just survive COVID, they prospered.

Our plan was completely thrown out the window, so we improvised.

Quickly, we found a story in the owner’s interaction with customers and employees. In the diverse landscape that is San Francisco, we discovered May Lee is a story of perseverance through adaptation, and is a reflection on how Chinese-American food changed the San Francisco landscape.

Awarded with an official selection at the DIYDS National Youth Film Festival