Lee’s award-winning thesis film for NYU parallels a young man running from the Mafia and a young woman hiding from the INS, and its blend of the comic and the melodramatic sets the tone for the first feature films to follow. The title refers to Manhattan’s Canal Street, which separates Chinatown from Little Italy.

• New York University (NYU)
• Tisch School of the Arts (NYU)
• Patrick Cupo
• Ching Ming Liu
• Ira Katz
• Chazz Palminteri
• Mei-Hwa Chaa