50 Great
Chinese Films III: Voices and Visual Images
from the
Centenary
Celebration of Chinese Cinema (1905-2005)
THIS SERIES IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF SU LI
(1919-1985)
Who: Weber State University Asian Studies Program
What: Asian Film Festival (with subtitles)
When: Schedule below
Where: listed on schedule
Greg Lewis, assistant professor of History at Weber
State
University, announces the fall semester Asian Film Festival
lineup. All films are shown at no charge, with subtitles, most on
Wednesdays in the Wildcat Theatre at 7:00 p.m. For more
information about the films, please contact Greg Lewis at 626-6707.
ASIAN
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Chinese cinema.
From
its humble origins in 1905 when portrait photographer Ren Qingtai
filmed Peking opera stage performances, Chinese cinema has
traveled what famed director Wu Yigong characterized to me as “a
rough and brilliant road.” En route, the successive influences
of Hollywood, Japan, and Moscow combined with an impressive core
group of Chinese film-makers to forge a distinctive national
cinema.
Last fall we began a five-semester program, 50 Great
Chinese
Films, to bring the finest Chinese films, scholars, and film-makers
to Northern Utah. During the past year we screened nineteen films
at ten venues and brought in a dozen visiting scholars and
filmmakers to introduce films and lecture on aspects of China’s
cinema history.
Our third series this fall features eleven films made
between
1934 and 2000. We are dedicating this series to the memory of the
great director Su Li, who died on May 2, 2005. A self-made, third
generation film pioneer, Su Li gained universal respect within
the film community for his contributions to Chinese cinema. He
was to visit Weber State University this September and we are
honored by his widow’s request that his last speech–written
for his visit here–be delivered on this campus by his
biographer Hu Chang. We will also screen two of Su Li’s
best-known
films, Third Sister Liu [Liu san jie] and Guerrillas Across the
Plain [Pingyuan youjidui] (please see the attached schedule for
the individual summaries of the films).
Five Chinese scholars will visit Weber State University
and
Northern Utah as part of the on-going centenary celebration,
including the editors of the two finest periodicals on Chinese
cinema and two leading film historians:
(1) Ms. Wang Renyin, 65, is the long-time
Editor-in-Chief of
Film Art [Dianying yishu]. She’ll introduce two films,
including the 1948 classic Springtime in a Small Town [Xiao cheng
zhi chun] and a newly subtitled 1989 film never screened in the U.S.,
the idyllic Oh! Sweet Snow [E - Xiangxue]. Ms. Wang will also
lecture on the evolving relationship between Chinese cinema and
society in the last twenty years;
(2) Mr. Hu Chang, 72, is a respected film historian and
the
author of ten books. His 1986 study, The Cradle of New China’s
Cinema [Xin Zhongguo dianying de yaolan], remains the seminal
history of the Changchun Film Studio, where he worked as a writer
and administrator from 1961 to 2001. Hu Chang will introduce Su
Li’s Third Sister Liu [Liu san jie] and Guerrillas on the Plain
[Pingyuan youjidui] plus a third important Changchun film from
1962, The Naval Battle of 1894 [Jiawu fengyun]. He has also
prepared a fascinating lecture describing his different life
experiences in China over the last sixty years;
(3) Mr. Wang Xindi, 49, is an instructor at Jilin
University
in Changchun and will introduce A Nurse’s Diary [Hushi riji].
He also translated Su Li’s Weber State lecture, “From
Soldier
to Film-maker: My Years in Yan’an and the Northeast,
1938-1980”
(to be given on Thursday, September 15 at 10am in Special
Collections, Stewart Library);
(4) Mr. Zhang Jianyong, 54, is the Editor-in-Chief of
Contemporary Cinema [Dangdai dianying] and has edited many
important historical studies of Chinese cinema (most notably, the
important two-volume China Today: Film [Dangdai Zhongguo:
dianying] in 1989). Mr. Zhang will introduce two films that have
yet to be released in China, Devils on the Doorstep [Guizi laile](2000)
and To Live [Huozhe](1994), and will give a lecture on aspects of
Chinese cinema in the “seventeen years” before the Cultural
Revolution (1949-1966);
(5) Mr. Hu Ke, 56, is a Senior Research Associate at the
China
Film Archives and is the author of the massive A History of
Chinese Film Theory (2005). He will introduce the Yellow Earth [Huang
tudi](1984), a breakthrough film associated with the coming of
China’s “Fifth Generation” of film-makers. Hu Ke will
also
lecture on the most famous of these 5th Generation film artists,
Zhang Yimou.
Proposed Fall 2005 Schedule, Summaries (films #20-30 in
the
series)
Wednesday, September 7 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater (7:00pm)
Springtime in a Small Town [Xiao cheng zhi
chun](1948)(B/W)(95
minutes)
Director Fei Mu’s exceptional film gives full
attention to
the psychology of passionate love triangle. The story takes place
in a small town where a small family lives in a house surrounded
by a decaying wall. The film’s original style, marked by
abstract settings and camera positioning, reveals uniquely the
complex psychological world inhabited by the main characters.
This will be the English-language premiere of this newly-subtitled
film.
Introduction: Ms. Wang Renyin, Editor, Film Art
[Dianying
yishu]
Thursday, September 8 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater
(7:00pm)
Oh! Sweet Snow [E - Xiangxue](1989)(Color)(90 minutes)
A train filled ith passengers from the big city begins
daily
service to the small mountain village of Taier’gou. The train
shatters the village’s tranquility but brings ne hope to the
people who live there. Director Wang Haowei’s film premiered at
the Berlin Film Festival but has never been shown in the United
States.
Introduction: Ms. Wang Renyin, Editor, Film Art
[Dianying
yishu]
Monday, September 12 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater
(7:00pm)
Guerrillas Across the Plain [Pingyuan
youjidui](1955)(B/W)(90
minutes)
Director Su Li’s first hit film follows the heroic
exploits
of guerrillas led by Li Xiangyang against the invading Japanese
army as they prepared to carry out “mopping up” campaigns
against villages in North China in 1943. This will be the
English-language
premiere of this newly-subtitled film.
Introduction: Hu Chang, Historian, Changchun Film Studio
Tuesday, September 13 - Bountiful, Davis County Library,
745 S.
Main (6:30pm)
Third Sister Liu [Liu san jie](1960)(Color)(105 minutes)
Director Su Li’s greatest film presents–in
the form of a
musical–the story of a courageous woman in southwestern China
who sings folk ‘mountain songs’ and rebels against
oppressive
landlords. According to the Zhuang legend from which the film was
adapted, Third Sister Liu was a Tang dynasty (618-907) peasant
girl who became a heroine among her people for her willingness to
stand up to despotic landlords and other enemies. This will be
the English-language premiere of this newly-subtitled film.
Introduction: Hu Chang, Historian, Changchun Film Studio
Wednesday, September 14 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater (7:00pm)
The Naval Battle of 1894 [Jia wu feng yun](1962)(Color)
Details the Qing dynasty’s ill-fated naval
engagements with
Japan in the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 from a decidedly
pro-Chinese perspective. China’s defeat in this conflict led to
reforms that ended the Qing dynasty and brought on the great
Chinese revolution in the 20th century. This film made actor Li
Mo’ran (as Admiral Ding Shichang) famous and was one of the
Changchun Film Studio’s great 1960s features.
Introduction: Hu Chang, Historian, Changchun Film
Studio, and
Wang Xindi, Instructor, Jilin University College of Nursing
Tuesday, September 20 - Weber State Univ. (Location
TBA)(11:30am)
A Nurse’s Diary [Hushi riji](1957)(B/W)(97
minutes)
After graduating from a Shanghai school of nursing, Jian
Shuhua decides to work at a construction workers’ clinic in a
remote area of China, in spite of the objections of her fiancee.
He fears the hard life there and later tries to persuade her to
return to Shanghai. Jian sticks to her hard work and eventually
finds romance. Her enthusiastic and selfless work win her the
affection and support of all the construction workers served by
the clinic.
Introduction: Wang Xindi, Instructor, Jilin Nursing
College (Changchun)
Wednesday, October 5 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater
(7:00pm)
The Big Road [Da lu](1934)(B/W)(105 minutes)
This silent film, with added soundtrack, is set during
the
Anti-Japanese war. Six young male workers and two waitresses in a
roadside restaurant experience a political awakening when they
participate in the construction of a strategically important road
for the Chinese army. Directed by the great second generation
film-maker Sun Yu and starring China’s “Rudolph
Valentino,”
Jin Yan.
Introduction: Greg Lewis, Weber State University
Wednesday, October 12 - Bountiful, Davis County Library,
745 S.
Main (6:30pm)
A Sparkling Red Star [Shanshan de
hongxing](1974)(Color)(100
minutes)
This rarely seen, highly popular film from the Cultural
Revolution features the exploits of the youthful Pan Dongzhi, who
is rescued by the Red Army in 1931 and later coordinates
guerrilla attacks against local tyranny. Newly subtitled in
English by the August 1st [Beijing] Film Studio.
Introduction: Greg Lewis, Weber State University
Friday, October 28 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater (7:00pm)
Devils on the Doorstep [Guizi laile](2000)(B/W)(139
minutes)
A dark comedy from director Jiang Wen offers a fresh
look at
life under the Japanese occupation at the end of World War II.
Jiang Wen also stars as peasant Ma Dasan, who is compelled to
shelter two prisoners at gunpoint. Although its bold
cinematography and approach to its subject matter made it a
winner at the Cannes Film Festival, Devils has yet to beendorsed
by Chinese censors.
Introduction: Zhang Jianyong, Editor, Contemporary
Cinema [Dangdai
dianying]
Monday, October 31 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater (7:00pm)
Yellow Earth [Huang tudi](1984)(Color)(86 minutes)
The breakthrough debut film of 5th Generation directors
Chen
Kaige and Zhang Yimou (who won a Chinese Oscar for his work as
cinematographer). In 1939, 8th Route Army soldier Gu Qing comes
to a village in Shaanxi province to collect folk songs for the
army. He stays with a poor family and tells them stories of the
revolution. This especially appeals to the daughter Cui Qiao, who
is betrothed to a middle-aged man by her father at age 13.
Introduction: Hu Ke, Senior Research Associate, China
Film
Archives (Beijing)
Wednesday, November 2 - Weber State University Wildcat
Theater
(7:00pm)
To Live [Huozhe] (1994).
Zhang Yimou’s portrayal of the ebb and flow of a
family’s
fortunes from the 1940s to the 1980s. This film, starring popular
actor Ge You and actress Gong Li, was banned in China for many
years for scenes depicting the Great Leap Forward and the
consequences of the Cultural Revolution.
Introduction: Zhang Jianyong, Editor, Contemporary
Cinema [Dangdai
dianying] and Hu Ke, Senior Research Associate, China Film
Archives (Beijing)
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