FILM SCREENINGS AND "CHINESE FILM IN THE 1980s" DISCUSSION

'85 NEW WAVE | FORUM

This series of screenings will provide an overview of the films that had a deep impact in the 1980s; it also reviews and explores the style and form of the cutting edge film which characterized the decade. The forum will discuss how films made in the 1980s influenced social thought of the time and by extension contemporary culture.

'85 NEW WAVE | CHINESE FILM IN THE 1980s

Date: 14:00-18:00, November 17

Moderator: Xie Fei

Panelists: Zhang Yiwu (Beijing), A Cheng (Beijing), Sun Shanchun (Shanghai), Hao Jian (Beijing), Zhu Dake (Shanghai), Jia Zhangke (Beijing), Cui Zien (Beijing)

Venue: UCCA auditorium

- Free with UCCA admission

- Limited seats. Booking is advised.

FILMS

    No. Title Director Film Duration Main Actors
    1
    Yellow Earth,1984

    *With English subtitles

    		 Chen Kaige 90 min. Wang Xueqi, Liu Qiang, Tan Tuo
    2
    King of the Children (1987)    		 Chen Kaige 100 min. Xie Yuan
    3
    The Black Cannon Incident(1986)    		 Huang Jianxin 90 min. Gao Zifeng, Gao Ming
    4
    One and Eight (1983)    		 Zhang Junzhao 100 min. Tao Zeru, Chen Daoming, Zhao Xiaorui
    5 Woman-Demon-Human(1987) Huang Shuqin 115 min. Xu Shouli, Li Baotian, Pei Yanling
    6 Red Sorghum(1987)

    *With English subtitles

    		 Zhang Yimou 100 min. Gong Li, Jiang Wen
    7 The Trouble-shooters£¨1988£© Mi Jiashan 110 min. Zhang Guoli, Ge You, Liang Tian
    8 Black Snow (1989) Xie Fei 107 min. Jiang Wen, Cheng Lin, Yue Hong

Venue: UCCA auditorium

  • Free with UCCA admission
  • Unless otherwise noted, all films are in Chinese without English subtitles.

FILM INTRODUCTION

Yellow Earth (1984) *With English subtitles

Director: Chen Kaige

Time: 90 minutes

In a barren ravine in Sha¡¯anxi¡¯s dusty and yellow Northern plains, the strains of music and drums are heard. A traditional marriage ceremony passed on for thousands of years is taking place. In the crowd is a soldier of the Eighth Route Army, Gu Qing, whose task is collecting folk songs of the people. He hears the joyful songs belted out from the mouths of these impoverished men; he sees the bride, a girl of only about twelve or thirteen. No matter, these destitute, ignorant farmers are immersed in joy. Suddenly, before him appears a flash of red clothing¡­

King of the Children (1987)

Director: Chen Kaige

Time: 100 minutes

The film takes place during the ten years of chaos in a dilapidated school nestled in the mountains, at a time when qualified teachers were hard to find. One day, a revolutionary leader places an educated youth there to teach and perform the mandatory seven years of revolutionary duties and ''learning from the peasants.'' He is sent to the school to be the "King of the Children" and to act as their teacher. After his friends discover the news, they celebrate with a party to send him off; from this day on ''King of the Children'' becomes his pseudonym.

The Black Cannon Incident (1986)

Director: Huang Jianxin

Time: 90 minutes

The Black Cannon Incident is the first Mainland film using modernist, critical tones to respond to political bureaucrats and impractical policies. Director Huang Yanxin uses vivid, contrasting colors and abstract settings to implement a modernist revolution of shape and form in Mainland film, demonstrating a youthful dynamism.

One and Eight (1983)

Director: Zhang Junzhao

Time: 100 minutes

Nineteen forty-one, cannon smoke from fighting the Japanese enshrouds the Hebei plateau and the night is heavy and deep. Eight criminals held in the stables by the Eighth Route Army are preparing their escape. A spy has planted false evidence, causing Wang

Jin to be thrown in with these criminals and his presence upsets their plan for escape. With changes in the outside war situation, the soldiers guarding the prison lose contact with the others. Xu Zhi (whose job is rooting out spies in the army) decides to allow the prisoners to breakout, but at the same time they enter the Japanese-held territory, Xu Zhi is wounded, making their situation critical. Wang Jin and the others are all itching to join the war. With Xu Zhi's permission, Wang Jin leads the other prisoners in a brave attack on the enemy. After their breakout, on the difficult road away from the blood-soaked and destroyed battlefield, the criminals rediscover the value of their lives. Their actions redeem their previous sins.

Woman-Demon -Human (1987)

Director: Huang Shuqin

Time: 115 minutes

In the 1950s, Qiu Yun's mother and father are singing partners in the opera "Zhongkui Marries off His Sister," and Qiu Yun secretly studies the parts. Later, after her mother elopes with another man, her father hopes to take her back to their hometown, but Qiu Yun has fallen in love with the art of opera, and insists on continuing its study. Her father has no choice but to teach her to sing the male role. Qiu Yun studies assiduously and quickly becomes the star of the opera. During one perfomance, she is chosen by the provincial opera troupe's Teacher Gu¡­

Red Sorghum (1987) *With English subtitles

Director: Zhang Yimou

Time: 100 minutes

''When my grandmother was 19 years old, my great-grandfather married her off to a leper named Old Li who owned a liquor factory in the town of Shibalipo. She was sent away on a mule when relatives came out to greet her. One of the men carrying her sedan, Yu Zhanou, led the rest of the men in bouncing the sedan chair and singing. Passing through Qingshakou, a robber came out from the sorghum fields. Yu Zhanao sent him to heaven, and from that moment my grandmother had feelings for him. Three days later she returned to her mother's home, and on the way she encountered another robber who turned out to be the very man who saved her: Yu Zhanao.

The Trouble-shooters (1988)

Director: Mi Jiashan

Time: 110 minutes

This was the first film based on writer Wang Shuo¡¯s novels, describing three unemployed youths in Beijing-Yu Guan, Yang Zhong and Ma Qing-who start a company that specializes in solving problems, dispelling melancholy, and easing suffering. They encounter all kinds of strange people and things, and sometimes don¡¯t know whether to laugh or to cry, but they are successful. Unexpectedly, the court sends over a summons ordering them to stop operation. The three of them empty out their pockets to send away the beggars clamoring at their door and then go out looking for a fight to blow off some steam. Surprisingly, the group of middle-aged guys they are picking on have no reaction at all; the three of them angrily ooze back into the crowd and disappear. The entire film has a thick Beijing-style irony, and given the morals and the manners of the time, viewer's hearts were hit with a giant dose of sardonic humor, yet the comic effect wasn¡¯t vulgar.

New actors Ge You and Liang Tian give wonderful and lively performances.

Black Snow (1989)

Director: Xie Fei

Time: 107 minutes

Out of loyalty to his brothers, Li Huiquan beats someone up and finds himself in the police station. When his prison labor re-education sentence comes to an end, he is released and goes home. He walks indifferently back to his small house beside the railroad tracks and stares for a long time at his mother's portrait until his friendly, helpful neighbors Old Mother Luo and policeman Xiaoliu help him to get a business license.

Then he begins a new life for himself.

SCREENING SCHEDULE

2007-11-10 Saturday

10:00-12:00 Woman-Demon-Human
13:00-15:00 Red Sorghum

15:30-17:30 One and Eight

2007-11-11 Sunday

10:00-12:00 Black Snow

13:00-15:00 The Black Cannon Incident
15:30-17:30 The Trouble-shooters

2007-11-13 Tuesday

13:00-15:00 Yellow Earth

15:30-17:30 King of the Children

2007-11-16 Friday

10:00-12:00 The Black Cannon Incident
13:00-15:00 Red Sorghum

15:30-17:30 One and Eight

2007-11-18 Sunday

10:00-12:00 Black Snow

13:00-15:00 The Black Cannon Incident

15:30-17:30 The Trouble-shooters ¡¡

2007-11-20 Tuesday ¡¡

13:00-15:00 Yellow Earth

15:30-17:30 King of the Children

2007-11-24 Saturday

10:00-12:00 Black Snow

13:00-15:00 The Black Cannon Incident

15:30-17:30 The Trouble-shooters

2007-11-25 Sunday

10:00-12:00 Woman-Demon-Human
13:00-15:00 Red Sorghum

15:30-17:30 One and Eight

2007-11-27 Tuesday

13:00-15:00 The Black Cannon Incident
15:30-17:30 One and Eight

20074-11-29 Thursday

10:00-12:00 Woman-Demon-Human
13:00-15:00 Red Sorghum

15:30-17:30 One and Eight

2007-11-30 Friday

10:00-12:00 Black Snow

13:00-15:00 The Black Cannon Incident

15:30-17:30 The Trouble-shooters