DOCSLIB.ORG

Chinese Indie Films Across the Century and Metamorphic Micro Cinema School of Journalism, Fudan University

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Chinese Indie Films Across the Century and Metamorphic Micro Cinema School of Journalism, Fudan University Chinese Indie Films across the Century and Metamorphic Micro Cinema School of Journalism, Fudan University Instructor: Yong Liu, Lecturer Office: Room 423, Office BLDG Phone: 8621-55664681, 86-13916198152 Email: [email protected] Class time: Office hours: Course Description This course will systematically introduce contemporary Chinese independent filmmaking from around the start of the 1990s, its 10-year “underground” status since then, and another 10 years of market-struggling status quo in China. The final bloc of the course will be focused on the emerging Chinese Micro Cinema mainly distributed through online, which is the transforming and evolving morph in the digitization era of its passing predecessor—Chinese Indie Films. In class, through analyzing and discussing clips of important representative works by Chinese independent filmmakers in different periods of time, students will have a chance to delve into these renown films and more importantly take a close look at the cultural, economic, and political transformations in Chinese society over the last two decades (1990s and 2000s). Also, by reviewing the currently popularizing representative works of Chinese Micro Cinema and comparing it with a prostrating predecessor, alongside the required textbook and articles, this course will shed some light on Chinese popular culture and ethos evolvement over the past 20 years. This will enable students a profound insight into the trajectory of this evolvement in the context of over 30 years of Chinese economic reform and nearly a decade of rapid development. Also, students will divide into groups and each group of 4-5 members will making a 15 minute digital micro cinema (short film) as the final term project. Course Evaluation Class participation is required for every student. All the students must finish the required readings and film viewings for each week before class and bring questions from the specific readings and films to class. Student contribution to class discussions is completely encouraged and considered for their final grades. Alongside class presence (10%) and discussion participation (15%), grading will be mainly based on mid-term personal papers (30%) and final group-produced micro cinema projects (45%). Assignments The mid-term personal paper requires about 2000 words, analyzing a chosen Chinese indie filmmaker, his/her representative works and manifested aesthetics, comparisons between different filmmakers’ artistic styles, or a cinematic phenomenon reflecting China’s cultural and social changes over the decades, etc. For the group-produced term project, detailed requirements of this final assignment will be handed out in the early stage of the semester. Readings Required textbook: Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. Recommended reading: William A. Hachten and James F. Scotton (eds.), New Media for a New China. Wiley-Blackwell, (1st edition) March 16, 2010. Lecture & Readings Outline Bloc 1 (two sections): Sixth Generation Filmmakers and the beginning of Chinese Independent filmmaking. Week 1 (February 29, 2012) Topic: The Sixth Generation’s debut and the first Chinese indie film work, Mom (Dir. Zhang Yuan, 80min, 1990). Social, economic and political context and aesthetic influences on the Sixth Generation’s creative choices. Screen: Beijing Bastards (Dir. Zhang Yuan, 88min, 1992), clips of Wang Xiaoshuai’s The Days (80 min, 1993) and Frozen (95 min, shot in 1994 and released in 1997) Readings: 1. Berenice Reynaud. “Zhuang Yuan’s Imaginary Cities and Theatricalization of the Chinese ‘Bastards’”. Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. pp 264-294. 2. Yingjin Zhang. “Rebel without a Cause? China’s New Urban Generation and Post-socialist Filmmaking”. Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. pp 49-80. Week 2 (March 6, 2012) Topic: Chinese Indie filmmaking gains momentum while more Sixth Generation filmmakers emerge. Why are they called the Sixth Generation? What are the common characteristics of these filmmakers’ works and the differences between their films and Fifth Generation Directors’ works? Screen: In the Heat of the Sun (Dir. Jiang Wen, 134 min, 1994), clips of Weekend Lover (Dir. Lou Ye, 96min, 1995), A Beautiful New World (Dir. Shi Runjiu, 97min, 1998); Spicy Love Soup (109min, 1997) or Shower (92min, 1999), both dir. by Zhang Yang. Readings: 1. Linda Chiu-Han Lai. “Whither the Walker Goes: Spatial Practices and Negative Poetics in 1990s Chinese Urban Cinema”. Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. pp 205-240. 2. Augusta Palmer. “Scaling the Skyscraper: Images of Cosmopolitan Consumption in Street Angle (1937) and Beautiful New World (1998)”. Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. pp 181-204. Bloc 2 (two sections): Chinese indie filmmakers turn underground while government regulations strengthen. Week 3 (March 13, 2012): Topic: The social and political context in late 1990s China, how the Sixth Generation Directors keep making films, and their underground status. Screen: Xiao Wu (also titled The Pickpocket, 105min, 1997), clips of Jia Zhangke’s films: Platform (2001) and Unknown Pleasures (2002). Readings: 2 1. Jason McGrath. “The Independent Cinema of Jia Zhangke: From Postsocialist Realism to Transnational Aesthetic”. Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. pp 81-114. Week 4 (March 20, 2012) Topic: Popular culture and ethos in late 1990s China and Chinese Underground Indies get acclaimed at European film festivals. Screen: Suzhou River (Dir. Lou Ye, 83min, 2000). Clips of Lou Ye’s film: Purple Butterfly (2003). Readings: 1. Sheldon H. Lu. “Tear down the City: Reconstructing Urban Space in Contemporary Chinese Popular Cinema and Avart-Garde Art”. Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. pp 137-160. Bloc 3 (two sections): New challenge for Chinese cinema in the new century: an industry vs. independents. Week 5 (March 27, 2012) Topic: Loosened-up censorship means harder survival for Chinese Indie filmmakers: Chinese social and economic transformation during the first decade of the 21st century. Screen: Jia Zhangke’s Venice Film Festival awarded film, Still Life (108min, 2006), clips of Ning Hao’s Mongolian Ping Pong (102min, 2004). Readings: 1. Yong Liu. “New Challenge for Chinese Cinema in New Century: an Industry vs. Independents” Chapter12 in Scotton, James and Hachten, William (eds.), New Media for a New China. Wiley-Blackwell, March 2010. pp 165-183. Week 6 (April 11, 2012): Topic: Female Indie filmmakers in China. Screen: A Letter from an Unknown Woman (Dir. Xu Jinglei, 90 min, 2004), won Best Director Award from San Sebastián International Film Festival, clips of Ning Ying’s On the Beat (105min, 1995), Perpetual Motion (90 min, 2005). Readings: 2. Shuqin, Cui. “Ning Ying’s Beijing Trilogy: Cinematic Configurations of Age, Class and Sexuality”. Zhang Zhen (ed.), The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007. pp 241-263. Bloc 4 (two sections): Chinese Indie films’ metamorphic form in the Digitization Era: Micro Cinema Week 7 (April 18, 2012): Topic: Nostalgia amidst the Consumerizing Show Culture and Online Popular Culture. Screen: Chopsticks Brothers’ Old Boy (43 min, 2010) and Father (28 min, 2011) Readings: 1. James Scotton. “The Impact of New Media”, Chapter 3 in Scotton, James and Hachten, William (eds.), New Media for a New China. Wiley-Blackwell, March 2010. Week 8 (April 25, 2012): 3 Topic: Diversity and Deviant of online trans-media narratives in the Digitization Era. Screen: Nono Jin’s Let You Know Shanghai in Ten Minutes (10 min, 2011) and Jiao Yang’s The Gao Chao Redemption (10 min, 2011). Readings: 1. Glorianna Davenport. When Place Becomes Character: a critical framing of place for mobile and situated narratives. http://mf.media.mit.edu/pubs/other/CharacterPlace.pdf (accessed on Feb 2012) Bloc 5 (5 sections): Learn how to applying digital media tools for narrative experiment. Week 9 (May 9, 2012): PERSONAL MID-TERM PAPER DUE. Content: Learn how to use digital cameras and editing equipments in Apple computer lab. Reading: to be decided. Week 10: Out-of-town field trip. Week 11-14 (May 23, 2012 to June 13, 2012): Digital Micro Cinema Practice Situated in Shanghai. Content: Students divide into groups, 4 or 5 members form one crew, employing Sony EX-3s or Panasonics DV cameras and Apple Final Cut Pro nonlinear editing equipments provided by Fudan J-school, shoot and edit a 15 minute-long digital micro cinema. Bloc 6 (2 Sections): Rough cut screening and class wrap-up. Week 15 (June 20, 2012): MICRO CINEMA’S ROUGH CUT DUE AND CLASS SCREENING. Topic: Each crew’s rough cut version of micro cinema will be screening in class and each crew will get comments and feedback from fellow students and course instructor; then crews will revise their works based on above suggestions. Week 16 (June 27, 2012): FINAL VERSION DUE & HAND IN ON DVD. 4 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Seville Pictures / New Yorker Films Release Sunflower
    A Seville Pictures / New Yorker Films release Sunflower CREDITS Director ZHANG YANG Screenplay ZHANG YANG CAI SHANGJUN HUO XIN Producer PETER LOEHR Producer HAN SANPING Co-producers MICHAEL J. WERNER WOUTER BARENDRECHT Executive Producer YANG BUTING Co-executive Producer JIANG TAO Production Supervisor SHI DONGMING Production Management ZHAO HAICHENG Line Producer ER YONG Production Manager ZHANG JIAKUN Director of Photography JONG LIN Editor YANG HONGYU Production Design AN BIN HUANG XINMING Music LIN HAI Music Production LIN HAI, EMOTION MUSIC STUDIO Music performed by ASIA PHILHARMONIC GROUP (STRINGS) HUANG LIJIE (LEAD VIOLIN) LIN HAI (SOLO PIANO) Music Recording & Mixing LOU WEI Sound Design WU LALA Sound Editors MAO SHUO ZHAO YING WANG GANG Foley Mixer CHENG XIAOLONG First Assistant Director LI HAIBIN For Fourth Production Company of China Film Group Corp and Ming Productions A Fortissimo Films presentation 2 CAST Zhang Gengnian (Father) SUN HAIYING Zhang Xiuqing (Mother) JOAN CHEN Lao Liu LIU ZIFENG Xiangyang (9 yrs old) ZHANG FAN Xiangyang (19 yrs old) GAO GE Xiangyang (32 yrs old) WANG HAIDI Chicken Droppings (9 yrs old) HONG YIHAO Chicken Droppings (19 yrs old) LI BIN Han Jing (Xiangyang’s wife) LIANG JING Yu Hong ZHANG YUE Horn Li LI YEPING www.NewYorkerFilms.com Press photos are available for download through http://www.newyorkerfilms.com/nyf/t_elements/sunflower/sunflower1_t.htm China, 2005 129 min., Color In Mandarin and English with English subtitles 1.85, Dolby SR 3 SYNOPSIS Sunflower spans the course of three decades - focusing on the years 1976, 1987 and 1999 - in the lives of Zhang Gengnian and his son, Xiangyang.
    [Show full text]
  • Entire Dissertation Noviachen Aug2021.Pages
    Documentary as Alternative Practice: Situating Contemporary Female Filmmakers in Sinophone Cinemas by Novia Shih-Shan Chen M.F.A., Ohio University, 2008 B.F.A., National Taiwan University, 2003 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Novia Shih-Shan Chen 2021 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY SUMMER 2021 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Declaration of Committee Name: Novia Shih-Shan Chen Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Thesis title: Documentary as Alternative Practice: Situating Contemporary Female Filmmakers in Sinophone Cinemas Committee: Chair: Jen Marchbank Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Helen Hok-Sze Leung Supervisor Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Zoë Druick Committee Member Professor, School of Communication Lara Campbell Committee Member Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Christine Kim Examiner Associate Professor, Department of English The University of British Columbia Gina Marchetti External Examiner Professor, Department of Comparative Literature The University of Hong Kong ii Abstract Women’s documentary filmmaking in Sinophone cinemas has been marginalized in the film industry and understudied in film studies scholarship. The convergence of neoliberalism, institutionalization of pan-Chinese documentary films and the historical marginalization of women’s filmmaking in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), respectively, have further perpetuated the marginalization of documentary films by local female filmmakers.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Mood for Love, Suzhou He Film Studio, Bar : Shanghai Tongzhi Community Junfeng Ding Iowa State University
    Masthead Logo Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1-1-2005 In the mood for love, Suzhou He Film Studio, Bar : Shanghai Tongzhi community Junfeng Ding Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Recommended Citation Ding, Junfeng, "In the mood for love, Suzhou He Film Studio, Bar : Shanghai Tongzhi community" (2005). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 18940. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/18940 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. In the Mood for Love - Suzhou He Film Studio, Bar I Shanghai T ongzhi community by Junfeng Qeff) Ding A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE Major: Architecture Program of Study Committee: Timothy Hickman, Major Professor Clare Robinson, Major Professor Julia Badenhope Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2005 Copyright ©Junf eng Qeff) Ding. , 2005. All. rights reserved. II Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the master's thesis of Junfeng Qeff) Ding has met the thesis requirements of Iowa State University Signatures have been redacted for privacy Ill Acknowledgements The moment of finishing my thesis for the professional M.Arch degree is the moment I studying for the post ~ professional M.Des degree in Graduate School of Design (GSD), Harvard University.
    [Show full text]
  • How the Steel Was Tempered: the Rebirth of Pawel Korchagin in Contemporary Chinese Media
    Front. Lit. Stud. China 2012, 6(1): 95–111 DOI 10.3868/s010-001-012-0007-6 RESEARCH ARTICLE Mingwei Song How the Steel Was Tempered: The Rebirth of Pawel Korchagin in Contemporary Chinese Media Abstract Russian writer Nicholas Ostrovski’s novel How the Steel Was Tempered (1934) provided generations of Chinese youth with a widely admired role model: a young devoted communist soldier, Pawel Korchagin, whose image occupied a prominent place in the orthodoxy revolutionary education and literary imagination during Mao’s era. Over the past decade, Pawel Korchagin has regained his popularity in Chinese media, his name and image have been appropriated by numerous artists and filmmakers to help in portrayals of the new generation’s self-fashioning. The various (unorthodox) interpretations recently attached to Pawel’s heroic story reveal a huge gap between Maoist ideology and the post-Mao ideas. This paper looks into the intricate relationships between Pawel Korchagin’s revolutionary past and his varied contemporary representations. By doing so, I hope to gain a better understanding of the cultural politics of appropriating Mao’s legacy to create new meanings for a changing Chinese society. One example on which this paper focuses is the sixth-generation director Lu Xuechang’s film Becoming a Man (1997), which rewrites the revolutionary Bildungsroman of Pawel in a startling different context. Keywords youth, revolutionary Bildungsroman, contemporary Chinese culture, the sixth-generation filmmakers, self-fashioning Introduction Russian writer Nicholai Ostrovski’s 1934 novel Kak Zakalialas Stal (How the 1 steel was tempered; translated in Chinese as Gangtie shi zenyang liancheng de) 1 Kak Zakalialas Stal was published in 1934 in Russia.
    [Show full text]
  • SOUL on a STRING (PI SHENG SHANG DE HUN/皮绳上的魂) a Film by Zhang Yang
    presents SOUL ON A STRING (PI SHENG SHANG DE HUN/皮绳上的魂) A film by Zhang Yang “Stunningly shot Tibetan western has a nicely laconic magical-realist flavor.” – Sino-Cinema China / 2016 / Drama / Tibetan with English Subtitles 142 min / 2.35:1 / Stereo 2.0 and 5.1 Surround Sound Film Movement Contacts: Press: Genevieve Villaflor | (212) 941-7744 x215 | [email protected] Theatrical: Clemence Taillandier | (212) 941-7715 | [email protected] Non- Theatrical and Festivals: Maxwell Wolkin | (212) 941-7744 x211 | [email protected] Assets: Official US Trailer: TBD Downloadable Hi-res Images: http://www.filmmovement.com/filmcatalog/index.asp?MerchandiseID=542 www.FilmMovement.com 1 SYNOPSIS After discovering a sacred stone in the mouth of a slain deer, Taibei, a young Tibetan cowboy, embarks on a mission to bring it back to the holy mountain of Buddha’s handprint. His journey proves to be long and difficult as black market traders seek the priceless artifact for themselves, and two brothers – Kodi and Guori – seek revenge for the murder of their father. An obstinate woman, Joan, and a psychic elf, Pu, soon decide to join him. The trio’s earthly conflict is suddenly thrown off course by strange and mystical events. SHORT SYNOPSIS After discovering a sacred stone in the mouth of a slain deer, Taibei, a young Tibetan cowboy, embarks on a mystical mission to bring it back to a holy mountain. His journey proves difficult, especially since he is on the run from two brothers, Kodi and Guori, who are seeking vengeance since their father was killed by Tabei's father.
    [Show full text]
  • Cinematic Reconstruction of Historical Trauma in Twenty-First Century China
    Does Time Heal?: Cinematic Reconstruction of Historical Trauma in Twenty-first Century China By Shiya Zhang B.A., Jilin University, 2004 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies ©Shiya Zhang, 2018 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Does Time Heal?: Cinematic Reconstruction of Historical Trauma in Twenty-first Century China By Shiya Zhang Bachelor of Arts., Jilin University, 2004 Supervisory Committee Dr. Richard King, Supervisor (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Dr. Katsuhiko Endo, Departmental Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Richard King, Supervisor (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Dr. Katsuhiko Endo, Departmental Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Abstract While the whole world is talking about China’s rise in wealth and power, most focus has been placed on understanding China’s present policies and future orientations. However, very little attention is devoted to examining how historical consciousness affects present China. People take for granted that the past—particularly the landmark traumas of the communist decades— is a far-reaching historical discontinuity, and that China’s profound changes in every aspect of society have rendered the past increasingly irrelevant. However, this thesis argues that this assumption is wrong. This thesis explores the ways that Chinese filmmakers rearticulate the historical traumas which continue to affect Chinese society in the post-WTO era.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Cinema and Transnational Cultural Politics : Reflections on Film Estivf Als, Film Productions, and Film Studies
    Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese 現代中文文學學報 Volume 2 Issue 1 Vol. 2.1 二卷一期 (1998) Article 6 7-1-1998 Chinese cinema and transnational cultural politics : reflections on film estivf als, film productions, and film studies Yingjin ZHANG Indiana University, Bloomington Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/jmlc Recommended Citation Zhang, Y. (1998). Chinese cinema and transnational cultural politics: Reflections on filmestiv f als, film productions, and film studies. Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese, 2(1), 105-132. This Forum is brought to you for free and open access by the Centre for Humanities Research 人文學科研究中心 at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese 現代中文文學學報 by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Chinese Cinema and Transnational Cultural Politics: Reflections on Film Festivals, Film Productions, and Film Studies Yingjin Zhang This study situates Chinese cinema among three interconnected concerns that all pertain to transnational cultural politics: (1) the impact of international film festivals on the productions of Chinese films and their reception in the West; (2) the inadequacy of the “Fifth Generation” as a critical term for Chinese film studies; and (3) the need to address the current methodological confinement in Western studies of Chinese cinema. By “transnational cultural politics” here I mean the complicated——and at times complicit— ways Chinese films, including those produced in or coproduced with Hong Kong and Taiwan, are enmeshed in tla larger process in which popular- cultural technologies, genres, and works are increasingly moving and interacting across national and cultural borders” （During 1997: 808).
    [Show full text]
  • The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement for the Public Record
    The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement For the Public Record Edited by Chris Berry, Lu Xinyu, and Lisa Rofel Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.org © 2010 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-988-8028-51-1 (Hardback) ISBN 978-988-8028-52-8 (Paperback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Printed and bound by CTPS Digiprints Limited in Hong Kong, China Table of Contents List of Illustrations vii List of Contributors xi Part I: Historical Overview 1 1. Introduction 3 Chris Berry and Lisa Rofel 2. Rethinking China’s New Documentary Movement: 15 Engagement with the Social Lu Xinyu, translated by Tan Jia and Lisa Rofel, edited by Lisa Rofel and Chris Berry 3. DV: Individual Filmmaking 49 Wu Wenguang, translated by Cathryn Clayton Part II: Documenting Marginalization, or Identities New and Old 55 4. West of the Tracks: History and Class-Consciousness 57 Lu Xinyu, translated by J. X. Zhang 5. Coming out of The Box, Marching as Dykes 77 Chao Shi-Yan Part III: Publics, Counter-Publics, and Alternative Publics 97 6. Blowup Beijing: The City as a Twilight Zone 99 Paola Voci vi Table of Contents 7.
    [Show full text]
  • 21St Century Chinese Cinema in the Late 1960S and 70S, Red Ballets and Operas Dominated the Chinese Screen
    21st century Chinese cinema In the late 1960s and 70s, red ballets and operas dominated the Chinese screen. Mao died in 1976: a new age of cinema emerged with the founding of the Beijing Film Academy in 1978. Expressing new confidence in both historical and contemporary themes, young film-makers like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige brought Chinese film to a global audience with masterpieces such as Red Sorghum (1987) and Farewell my Concubine (1993). Martin Scorsese named Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Horse Thief (1986) as his favourite film of the 1990s (when it was released in the US). But many of these films encountered stigma at home. Growing commercialisation and globalisation since the 1980s and 90s have driven Chinese cinema to explore new modes of both cinematography and moneymaking, leading to exploratory films at home in Western arthouse cinemas, and entertaining movies that have drawn huge crowds in China. In this modest selection, we set the scene with a film that shaped the vision of China’s 21st century filmmakers. Tian Zhuangzhuang’s restrained criticism of 1950s and 60s state policies in The Blue Kite (1992) led to his blacklisting by the Party, but did not preclude him for mentoring the next generation of filmmakers. We then showcase a selection of remarkable 21st century films that have won world-wide acclaim for China’s talented directors and actors. Our selection finishes with a couple of rollicking tales that have attracted the popular domestic audience: a grand epic: Red Cliff (2008), known better for its cavalry charges than its character development, and Lost in Thailand (2012) that, airily suspending social comment and political tension, was the biggest ever box office success in China.
    [Show full text]
  • BLIND MASSAGE Presskit BERLIN.Indd 1 05/02/2014 10:47 BLIND MASSAGE Presskit BERLIN.Indd 2 05/02/2014 10:47 BLIND MASSAGE Directed by LOU YE Screenplay MA YINGLI
    BLIND MASSAGE_presskit_BERLIN.indd 1 05/02/2014 10:47 BLIND MASSAGE_presskit_BERLIN.indd 2 05/02/2014 10:47 BLIND MASSAGE directed by LOU YE screenplay MA YINGLI CHINA / FRANCE — RUNNING TIME: 115 MIN IMAGE: 1:1.85 — SOUND: DOLBY INTERNATIONAL SALES wild bunch Carole BARATON [email protected] Gary FARKAS [email protected] Vincent MARAVAL [email protected] Olivier BARBIER [email protected] Silvia SIMONUTTI [email protected] INTERNATIONAL PR Martin MARQUET US cell: +1 310 927 5789 — [email protected] BLIND MASSAGE_presskit_BERLIN.indd 3 05/02/2014 10:47 BLIND MASSAGE_presskit_BERLIN.indd 4 05/02/2014 10:47 SYNOPSIS Nanjing. At a massage centre run by the blind, damaged bodies find relief beneath sensitive fingers. A new couple comes to work at the centre. The others are drawn to them. Within this community, we witness seduction, suffering and - above all - the search for love. DIRECTOR’S NOTE When I asked Mr. Bi Feiyu why he wrote his novel “Blind Massage”, instead of giving me a direct answer, he told me a story. At one time, when he was suffering from writer’s block and couldn’t work, he would wander about every day, doing very little. During this period he often visited a massage centre close to his home, where all the masseurs were blind. As they grew familiar with each other, he and his masseur would talk about various topics. One day, Bi was the last customer in the centre. As he was leaving with the workers, he took the hand of a blind masseur to guide him down the stairs.
    [Show full text]
  • Art and Visual Culture in Contemporary Beijing (1978-2012)
    Infrastructures of Critique: Art and Visual Culture in Contemporary Beijing (1978-2012) by Elizabeth Chamberlin Parke A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Elizabeth Chamberlin Parke 2016 Infrastructures of Critique: Art and Visual Culture in Contemporary Beijing (1978-2012) Elizabeth Chamberlin Parke Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This dissertation is a story about relationships between artists, their work, and the physical infrastructure of Beijing. I argue that infrastructure’s utilitarianism has relegated it to a category of nothing to see, and that this tautology effectively shrouds other possible interpretations. My findings establish counter-narratives and critiques of Beijing, a city at once an immerging global capital city, and an urban space fraught with competing ways of seeing, those crafted by the state and those of artists. Statecraft in this dissertation is conceptualized as both the art of managing building projects that function to control Beijing’s public spaces, harnessing the thing-power of infrastructure, and the enforcement of everyday rituals that surround Beijinger’s interactions with the city’s infrastructure. From the spectacular architecture built to signify China’s neoliberal approaches to globalized urban spaces, to micro-modifications in how citizens sort their recycling depicted on neighborhood bulletin boards, the visuals of Chinese statecraft saturate the urban landscape of Beijing. I advocate for heterogeneous ways of seeing of infrastructure that releases its from being solely a function of statecraft, to a constitutive part of the artistic practices of: Song Dong (宋冬 b.
    [Show full text]
  • Love and Bruises
    WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS DREAM FACTORY LES FILMS DU LENDEMAIN ARTE FRANCE CINEMA present LOVE AND BRUISES Directed by LOU YE Starring TAHAR RAHIM CORINNE YAM With the participation of JALIL LESPERT VINCENT ROTTIERS 2010 · FrAnCe/CHInA · 105 mIn · 1.85 · COLOUr Download press kit and photos from WWW.WILDBUnCH.BIZ PRESS CONTACT DURING VENICE FF: Magali MONTET + 33 6 71 63 36 16 [email protected] INTERNATIONAL SALES: Delphine MAYELE + 39 328 608 68 15 [email protected] Carole BARATON [email protected] Gary FARKAS [email protected] PRESS CONTACT DURING TORONTO FF: Vincent MARAVAL [email protected] Martin MARQUET + 1 310 927 5789 Gaël NOUAILLE [email protected] [email protected] Silvia SIMONUTTI [email protected] SYNOPSIS Hua, a young teacher from Beijing, is a recent arrival in Paris. Exiled in an unknown city, she wanders between her tiny apartment and the university, drifting between former lovers and recent French acquaintances. She meets Mathieu, a young worker who falls madly in love with her. Possessed by an insatiable desire for her body, he treats Hua like a dog. An intense affair begins, marked by Mathieu’s passionate embraces and harsh verbal abuse. When Hua determines to leave her lover, she discovers the strength of her addiction, and the vital role he has come to play in her life as a woman. DIRECTOR’S NOTE What specific topics interested you? Did the uprooting of the main character “I can understand Hua’s feeling of being already exist? “in between”. It’s actually a feeling of being I don’t have ‘specific topics’ but, for between different people, between different example, I like the issue of love very much, politics and cultures, between different because I think it is a daily life problem for races and territories, between sex and love, human beings.
    [Show full text]