2008 12 11 - New Realist Cinema : Independent Films from China : 2002 - 2008

FEATURE FILM: Crying Woman (Kuqi de nuren)
à Thursday 11 Dec 2008 at 8PM
Directed by Liu Bingjian | 2002 | 100 minutes | VHS | Color | with English subtitles | M-18
This bitter-sweet comedy feature tells the story of a young woman from Sichuan who has a problem – her husband is in prison and she desperately needs to raise money to free the latter. However, she has no marketable skills in the brave new world of commercialized China.
She tries selling pirated CDs on the streets of Beijing, but is chased away by the police. When she returns to Sichuan and bumps into a former lover who is now married, she discovers that she does indeed have something to sell. Her tears!

FEATURE FILM: Red Snow (Hongse xue)
à Friday 12 Dec 2008 at 8PM
Directed by Peng Tao | 2006 | 110 minutes | DVD | with English subtitles | M-18
Red Snow is director Peng Tao's first independent feature film. It was made in 2006 during the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution and set in rural Shanxi. Crafted ambitiously, Peng tries to capture the essence of the ten year Cultural Revolution by exploring the complicated relations between a peasant woman and three runaways: a veteran cadre, a red guard, and a young girl fleeing a natural disaster.

FEATURE FILM: Little Moth (Xue chan)
à Saturday 13 Dec 2008 at 7.30PM
Directed by Peng Tao | 2008 | 100 minutes | DVD | with English subtitles | PG
This is the second feature film of young independent filmmaker Peng Tao.
It is set in various small towns in the environs of Yuan'an County in Hubei. It counts the story of a little, handicapped village girl who is purchased by criminals to function as a prop in a begging scam. Filled with surprises as the story develops, it is also a great commentary about the complicated webs of new social relations in contemporary China.

Documentary film: For Every Minute I Live, I'll Enjoy Sixty Seconds (Huo le yi fen zhong, kuai huo liushi miao)
à Saturday 13 Dec 2008 at 2.15PM
Directed by Zhang Zhanqing | 2006 | 85 minutes | DVD | with English subtitles | M-18

Director Zhang Zhanqing's second documentary film is set in a small county town in Hunan. It tells in vivid detail the story of a loser, a man who has not been at all successful in the brave new world of China in the early twenty-first century. It is a disturbing film that raises many questions about the social consequences of the new economic and social systems that have gained momentum in contemporary China.

Documentary film: Living Without Dignity is Better Than Dying a Noble Death (Hao si bu ru lai huozhe)
à Saturday 13 Dec 2008 at 4.30PM
Directed by Chen Weijun | 2003 | 92 minutes | VHS | Color | with English subtitles | PG
This hard hitting documentary films deals with the AIDS crisis in China.
The filmmaker travels to rural Henan province to visit with a single village family. He visits the family four times in one year: summer, fall, winter and spring. The peasant family has five members: father, mother, and three beautiful children. All but the oldest daughter (a primary school student) have AIDS and will die. The filmmaker explores their interrelations and asks them about the past, the present, and the uncertain future.

*All feature and documentary films will be accompanied by an introduction of the film and short post-dialogue session with Paul G. Pickowicz, Distinguished Professor (Modern Chinese History Endowed Chair) at the University of California in San Diego.