Film Series
Fall Quarter '08
Saturday, October 18, Time: 1 pm
Film and Discussion with Tami Blumenfield
Tami Blumenfield, Anthropology Department, University of Washington
Film: "Illuminations at Lugu Lake: The First Moso Film Festival"
A film by Onchi Archei, Ruheng Duoji, and Tami Blumenfield (2008)
Film Abstract:
In January 2006, the Moso Folk Museum (located on the shores of
Lugu Lake in Yunnan, China) hosted the first-ever Moso Film
Festival. The organizers planned screenings to expose inaccuracies
promulgated by outside filmmakers and television stations who
document Moso culture. Through this exposure and subsequent
discussion, we hoped to encourage locals to think more about their
role in media production and consumption. Instead, the film
screenings became a venue for Moso villagers to reflect on the
development of their home community after more than a decade of
intense tourism, research and media coverage, and to contemplate
how to react.
Reputed to be China’s first village film festival, the Moso Film
Festival is a model for communities throughout China and beyond.
This film shows glimpses of the film festival from several camera
angles and perspectives to help model a new kind of festival. The
filmmakers include a Moso museum curator, a recent graduate of a
Yunnan ethnology department, a freelance photographer from
Shenzhen, and an American anthropology graduate student, all
advised by a Kunming professor of visual anthropology. The
filmmakers and their product give voice to a new form of
collaborative anthropology both in and of East Asia.
Friday, October 17, Time: 7:30 pm
Film and Discussion with Tami Blumenfield
Tami Blumenfield, Anthropology Department, University of Washington
Film: "Women's Kingdom"
A film by Xiaoli Zhou, Produced by Xiaoli Zhou & Brent E. Huffman
WOMEN'S KINGDOM--Keepers of one of the last matriarchal societies in the world, Mosuo women in a remote area of southwest China live beyond the strictures of mainstream Chinese culture – enjoying great freedoms and carrying heavy responsibilities.
Beautifully shot and featuring intimate interviews, this short documentary offers a rare glimpse into a society virtually unheard of 10 years ago and now often misrepresented in the media. Mosuo women control their own finances and do not marry or live with partners; they practice what they call "walking marriage." A man may be invited into a woman’s hut to spend a "sweet night," but must leave by daybreak. While tourism has brought wealth and 21st century conveniences to this remote area, it has also introduced difficult challenges to the Mosuo culture – from pollution in the lake, to the establishment of brothels, to mainstream ideas about women, beauty and family. This finely wrought film is a sensitive portrayal of extraordinary women struggling to hold on to their extraordinary society. For the website of the film, please click here.
Monday, October 27, Time: 12:30-2:30
Celine Parrenas Shimizu, Associate Professor of Film and Video in Asian American Studies and Affiliate Faculty in Film and Women's Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara
Film: "The Fact of Asian Women"
Co-sponsors: ICS, Program in Asian American Studies, Department of Women's Studies, and Office of Minority Affairs
Room: University Hall, Room 56
Location: 230 N. Oval Mall
Celine Parrenas Shimizu will be screening her film and taking questions and answers.
THE FACT OF ASIAN WOMEN --Contemporary Asian American female actors re-enact scenes from popular Hollywood films. Featuring three generations of Asian American femme fatales in Hollywood, the film re-examines the fantastic figure of the “lotus blossom” and “dragon lady” exemplified in the roles played by Anna May Wong in the 1920s’-1940s, the “prostitute with a heart of gold” embodied by Nancy Kwan in the 1960s’ and the contemporary “dominatrix” Lucy Liu. Performing these characters, young contemporary actors collide with the “ghosts” of Asian women in Hollywood through the revised endings of their major films performed on the streets of San Francisco. The actors then discuss sexuality in their roles and in terms of their own self-formation as actresses of color. For the website of the film, click here.
Window on Taiwan: New Documentary Filmmaking in Taiwan
October 19, 2007
Madame Chiang Kai-shek: A Legend Crosses Three Centuries
The life of Soong May-ling (1897-2003), better known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek, transcended three centuries and was closely intertwined with modern Chinese history. The film covers the intriguing and controversial stories of this legendary first lady with recently revealed declassified documents and interviews with witnesses who lived through histories, across the Taiwan Straits and Pacific Ocean. (Dir. Tseng Wen-chen, 56 minutes, English, b&w/color, DVD)
October 26, 2007
The Lost Kingdom - Kung Yue Society
This award-winning film reconstructs the history of the "Kung Yue Society", a well known koa-a-hi (Taiwanese Traditional Opera) troupe, whose popularity and gradual falling into oblivion not only reflects the history of Taiwanese opera after 1945, but also symbolizes the loss of cultural traditions experienced by Taiwan in the last few decades. (Dir. Hsiang-Hsiu Lee, 1999, Mandarin/Taiwanese with English subtitles, 98 min, b&w/color, DVD)
November 2, 2007
Let it Be
One of the brightest gems of Taiwan's vibrant documentary scene, this inspiring film records the everyday life and labor of three elderly rice farmers in the heart of Taiwan's rice-producing country. Even though the WTO has affected the livelihood of the rice farmers, their fortitude and humanity against hardship keeps inspiring audience to rethink man's relationship to the land. (Dirs. Yen Lan-chuan & Juang Yi-tseng, 2005, Mandarin/Taiwanese with English subtitles, 108 min, color, DVD)
November 9, 2007
Jump! Boys
This charming documentary follows a group of boys from different backgrounds and with different personalities who were brought together by an unusual passion for gymnastics and are coached by a has-been, hoping they will become national champions. Comic and touching, it became an instant hit in Taiwan when it was released in 2005. (Dir. Lin Yu-Hsien, 2005, Mandarin/Taiwanese with English subtitles, 85 min, color, DVD)
All showings in Hagerty Hall 180 at 5:30 p.m. Free refreshments will be served. Series generously co-sponsored by the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office, Chicago and the Taiwan Economic and
Cultural Office, New York; in Association with Graduate Students of East Asian Language and Literatures (GREALL). Download flier here.
Wu Tianming’s The King of Masks
 Sponsored by The ChinaFilm Project , with support provided by the East Asian Studies Center, The National East Asian Languages Resource Center, the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Wexner Center, and the Film Studies program, we are pleased to announce a special event hosting the visit of renowned
Chinese filmmaker Ms. Wu Tianming and producer Ms. Luo Xueying on November 14-15, 2006. The Wexner Center will provide a special screening of Wu Tianming’s film The King of Masks, followed by Q & A by Wu and Luo. On November 15, there will be a morning workshop (9:00-10:30 a.m.) with Wu and Luo concerning the past and future of Chinese cinema.
Special Screening of The King of Masks:
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Date: November 14 (Tuesday), 2006
Location: The Wexner Center
http://www.wexarts.org/fv/index.php?eventid=1846
Event Sponsors:
This visit is in collaboration with The ChinaFilm Project (www.ChinaFilmProject.org) which is dedicated to using film to facilitate cross-cultural respect and understanding between U.S. and Chinese peoples.
Support for this event is provided by the East Asian Studies Center, The National East Asian Languages Resource Center, the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Wexner Center, and the Film Studies program.
Reel China: New Chinese Documentaries
 The innovation and vibrancy of China's feature filmmaking scene is paralleled by exciting innovations among its documentary producers. This three-night series consists of rarely seen recent works of exceptional distinction, curated by Weihong Bao, assistant professor in Ohio State's Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Film Studies program. All works have English subtitles.
Event webpage: http://www.wexarts.org/fv/index.php?eventid=1966
|
