Presented by the London Chinese Cultural Centre In association with BFI Southbank , Museum in London Docklands and Odeon Covent Garden
A showcase of carefully curated selections of this year’s best narrative, documentary, short, and experimental films from China and Chinese Diaspora independent film makers.
The festival is proud to present 5 UK premieres — two outstanding new documentaries: Young and Restless in China, Hollywood Chinese and three features: Lost in Beijing, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, and Love Conquers All.
It would be a rare opportunity for viewers to see “Young and Restless” — A groundbreaking documentary that follows the lives of nine young people in China over four years as they struggle to find their way in a country changing faster than any in history as well as an opportunity to meet Director Sue Williams who will join the event for post-screening discussion
It would also be much fun to see Arthur Dong’s Hollywood Chinese — a chronicle of Chinese Americans in Hollywood beginning in the silent era and culminating in today’s success stories.
Loaded with film clips, celebrity interviews (Ang Lee, Wang Wayne, Tsai Chin, Nancy Kwan, Joan Chan and more), “it’s a film not just for Chinese Americans but for film lovers in general.” —- Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival.
Gallery of stills
Where: BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, Waterloo, SE1
Admission £8.60, £6.25 concs. Under 15s £5.25 (unless otherwise stated)
Box Office: 0207 928 3232
www.bfi.org.uk/southbank
Tube: Waterloo, Charing Cross and Embankment
Thursday 5 February 18:20
NFT1 : Hollywood Chinese 好萊塢華人 dir. Arthur Dong 曾奕田 USA 2007, 60 mins.
Cast: Ang Lee 李安, Wayne Wang 王穎, Tsai Chin 週采芹, Lisa Lu, Christopher Lee.
UK Premier screening of a captivating documentary on a critical survey of the first century of American cinema and the ways that Chinese and Chinese-Americans have been depicted by the industry. “Hollywood Chinese,” effectively connects historical dots, helping us to see how the stereotypes and clichés of the 1920s and ’30s continue to mold the expectations of today’s audiences and studio executives.
The suppression of Chinese actors and characters that began a century ago and branded Chinese culture as the “other” has steamrolled right up to the present day. But there are also triumphs big and small: the recovery of Marion Wong’s pioneering “The Curse of Quan Gwon” (1916); the success of the actress Nancy Kwan 關家蒨, the cinematographer James Wong Howe 黃宗沾 and the directors Wayne Wang, Ang Lee.
Thursday 5 February 20:30
NFT2 : A Thousand Years of Good Prayers 千年敬祈 USA 2008, 83 mins.
Cast : Faye Yu, Henry O
The biggest winner at the 55th San Sebastian festival, taking the top Golden Shell for best picture plus best actor for Henry O.
UK Premier of Director. Wayne Wang’s return to the themes of his earlier works such as Dim Sum and Joy Luck Club.
Adapted from writing by acclaimed US writer Yiyun Li, this gentle and profound tale explores the misunderstandings that arise when cultures and generations clash.
英國首映。影片改編自廣受讚譽的旅美華人作家李翊雲的小說，導演王穎重返他早期的《點心》和《喜福會》所探討的主題，溫情而深刻地講述了兩代人之間的文化衝突所導致的種種誤解。
Saturday 7 February 10.45
Studio : Daybreak 天明 dir: Sun Yu 孫瑜 1933, 116 mins.
Cast: 黎莉莉 Li Lili, Gao Zhanfei 高占非. (Classic series)
Sun Yu’s powerful film portrayal of working people suffering under feudalism and imperialism.
Li-li Li plays a villager forced into prostitution in Shanghai, while her lover Zhanfei Gao, joins the revolutionaries.
After she helps him flee the authorities, she is sentenced to death by a firing squad This is an extraordinary masterpiece of silent cinema that features historical ‘Shanghai’.
黎莉莉在影片中扮演的村姑爲生活所迫淪爲妓女，她的男友（高占非）因參加革命不幸被捕，在她的幫助下，男友成功逃脫，而黎莉莉卻被壓赴刑場。這是一部以上海爲背景的經典默片。
Admission FREE but bookable in advance
Sunday 8 February 10.45
Studio: Crossroads 十字街頭 dir: Shen Xiling 沈西苓 1937, 100 mins.
Cast : Zhao Dan 趙丹 Bai Yang.白楊 (Classic series)
Original version of recent re-make, this compelling film carefully observes the contrasting lives and aspirations of four recent graduates in late 1930’s China who suffer the hardship of world-wide Great Depression.
原版影片最新修復版本。這部中國電影史上的名作細緻入微地審視了20世紀30年代晚期，在全球範圍的大蕭條下，4 位大學畢業生所經歷的理想與現實的差距。
Admission FREE but bookable in advance.
Sunday 15 February 15:00
NFT1: Young & Restless in China 躁動的中國新世代
Dir : Sue William 韋甦 USA 2007, 104 mins.
UK Premiere screening of a new documentary that tracks the lives of nine young Chinese over four years as they scramble to keep pace with a society changing faster than any in history.
Raised under communism they are now making their way in China’s blazing capitalist economy. Their stories of ambition, exuberance, crime and corruption are interwoven with moments of love, heartbreak and passion.
Together they capture the changing values, hopes and dreams of a pivotal generation. Sue Williams will join Dr Kevin Latham, Snr Lecturer at SOAS, on stage for discussion following the film.
英國首映。 1990年以來，中國經濟、社會及文化經歷了翻天覆地的變化。本片攝製隊花了四年，貼身追訪九位來自不同省份、背景的年青人，探討他們如何應對社會的銳 變，有的對前路充滿希望、有的迷失困惑、有的憤世嫉俗。九個不同的故事，展現了現今中國年輕一代的面貌。導演將參加電影欣賞暨導演對談會。
Thursday 19 February 14:00
NFT3 : New Year Sacrifice 祝福 dir: Sang Hu. 桑弧 1956, 100 mins
Cast: Bai Yang 白楊
An award winning adaptation of Lu Xun’s novel. Set during the 1911Revolution, it follows the struggle for dignity of a poor woman against fate and the harsh reality of peasant life.
There will be opportunity to join a discussion over refreshments following the film.
影片改編自魯迅小說，曾獲得多個國際電影節獎項。講述了在1910年代中國一位出身貧寒的農村婦女如何與個人命運和悲慘的生活境況抗爭的故事。放映結束後將有討論。
Admission FREE matinee for over 60’s, otherwise ￡5.00
Where: Museum of London in Docklands
1 Warehouse, West India Quay, London E14 4AL
Details: 0870 444 3855 / 3850 (reservations)
Films suitable for all ages
Website: www.museumoflondon.org.uk/docklands
Tube: West India Quay/Canary Wharf
SAT 31 January 14:00
Nezha Conquers the Dragon King 哪吒鬧海 dir: Wang Shuhen 王樹忱 1980
(Community & Family)
A 70 mins. animation feature based on a well-known legend.
The film tells the struggle of the little boy Nezha against the Dragon King of the sea, who sends storms and floods to destroy the land of his birth.
這部70分鐘的動畫片改編自中國傳統神話故事，講述了一個名叫哪吒的小男孩，如何與興風作浪，禍害百姓的東海龍王鬥爭的故事。
SUN 1 February 14.00
Kekexili 可可西裏 dir.: Lu Chun 陸川 85 mins. (Adult, access & learning)
Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival
Set in the rugged expanse of China’s Tibetan Plateau, Kekexile is a spectacular western of survival and morality, based on true events surrounding a mountain patrol’s harrowing pursuit of merciless poachers.
以真實故事爲基礎，以廣闊蒼涼的青藏高原爲背景，這部驚心動魄的西部片講述了巡山隊員與瘋狂的偷獵者的追蹤故事，探討了生存與道德之間的複雜關係。
SAT 7 February 14:00
Documentaries: 30’ dir.: Carman Hinton (Community & Family)
(1) Passage into a New Year 迎新年: The old year fades amid the sound of firecrackers. The aroma of wine lingers in the warm spring breeze’. 鞭炮辭舊歲，酒香迎春意。
(2) Chinese Wedding Ceremony 中式婚禮: A wedding marked a woman’s passage from one household to another, her transpiration from daughter to daughter-in-law. 婚禮標誌著女人從“娘家”進入”婆家，完成了她從”女兒” 成爲“兒媳”的角色轉換。
PLUS two short films by the young filmmakers from the Academy of Film (titles to tbe announced)
SAT 14 February 14:00
Perhaps Love 如果愛 dir.: Peter Ho Kexun 陳可辛 100 mins.
Starring: Jin Chenwu, Zhou Xun, Zhang Xueyou, Ji Jinhee
This beautifully shot Hollywood-style musical was one of the biggest recent hits in Hong Kong, spinning a delightful love triangle between three of the film’s megastar performers.
這部唯美的好萊塢式歌舞片是近年香港的票房熱門，影片細膩地呈現了一個女人與兩個男人的愛情故事，彙集了重量級的大牌明星。
Where: Odeon Covent Garden,
135 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8AH
Admission £6.00
Box Office: 0871 22 44 007 (calls cost 10 pence per minute from a BT landline. Mobile and other providers may vary)
www.odeon.co.uk Tube: Leicester Square, Covent Garden
Wednesday 11 February 23:00
Cell Phone 手機 Dir. Feng Xiaogang 馮小剛 2005 105 mins.
Cast: Ge You 葛優 Xu Fan 徐帆, Zhang Guoli 張國立 Fan Bing Bing 範冰冰
A comical film depicting a country boy who has made good in the big city, but whose cell phone gets him into all sorts of entanglements.
這部喜劇片講述了一個農村出身的男人，終於在大城市功成名就，
卻捲入了手機帶來的種種麻煩。
Thursday 12 February 18.30
Letter from an Unknown Woman 一個陌生女人的來信 dir Xu Jinglei 徐靜蕾
2007, 90 mins.
Cast: Jiang Wen 姜文, Xu Jinglei 徐靜蕾
Winner of the Best Director award at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
西班牙聖塞巴斯蒂安電影節獲獎影片
A gorgeously photographed tale of unrequited love and passion. Xu’s adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s short story placing it against the epic backdrop of China’s revolution.
Unfolding over the course of twenty years, the film chronicles the life of a woman whose self-sacrificial love for a man ultimately consumes her.
改編自茨威格的短片小說，場景從百年前的維也納移到了中國的戰爭年代，這是一場不求回報的愛情悲劇，是一個女人歷時20年的愛情犧牲與自我毀滅。
Thursday 12 February 23:00
Kekexili 可可西裏: Mountain Patrol dir Lu Chun 陸川 85 mins
Winner of Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Based on real events the film is a spectacular, Western-inspired and ecologically aware tale of survival and morality, set in the rugged expanse of the Tibetan Plateau.
以真實故事爲基礎，以廣闊蒼涼的青藏高原爲背景，這部驚心動魄的西部片講述了巡山隊員與瘋狂的偷獵者的追蹤故事，探討了生存與道德之間的複雜關係。
Friday 13 February 18.30
Lost in Beijing 蘋果 dir: Li Yu 李玉 2007 100 mins. UK Premiere 英國首映
Cast: Tony Leung 梁家輝 Elaine Jin 金燕玲 Fan Bing Bing 範冰冰
The movie is a scathing look at the rapidly changing moral and socio－economic climate in China’s capital.
The metropolis it depicts is one in which money is the measure of all value, and in which every human relationship can be reduced to a transaction of a deal (entangled in rape and blackmail).
影片嚴肅地審視了處於道德觀念和社會經濟環境急速變化中的中國首都，在這個大都市里，金錢是衡量一切的價值標準，人和人之間的關係淪爲赤裸裸的交易。
Saturday 14 February 11:00 UK Première
Love Conquers All 愛情征服一切 dir. Tan Chui Mui 陳翠梅 2007 USA 80’
Starring: Ong Li Whei, Stephen Chuah, Leong Jiun Jiun, Ho Chi Lai, Ramanamahan.
First prizes from Pusan, Rotterdam and Hong Kong.
This ultra-low-budget narrative of a young woman’s arrival in Kuala Lumpur feels both utterly fresh and completely inevitable.
The director creates images with punch and depth, revealing glimmers of a ruthlessly poetic soul.
在釜山鹿特丹和香港電影節獲得最高獎項的一部超低成本影片，講述了一個年輕女子初到吉隆坡的新鮮生活以及注定無法避免的命運。
Plus The Great Voyages of Zheng He 鄭和下西洋 30 mins
A documentary about China’s great navigator, Zheng He’s maritime expeditions in Ming Dynasty to establish new trade routes in 1403 & 1433.
一部關於中國明朝航海家鄭和的紀錄片。爲了建立新的海上貿易路線，鄭和於1403年和 1433年兩次展開了他的海上探險。
Sunday 15 February 11:00
Jasmine Woman 茉莉花開 dir. Hou Yong 侯詠 130 mins
Cast: Zhang Ziyiu, 章子怡 Chen Chong 陳沖 (Joan Chen), Jiang Wen 姜文 Lu Yi 陸毅
Adapted from Su Tong’s novel . Zhang Ziyi plays the youngest of three generations of women who leads lives in Shanghai in the l930’s 50’s and 80s.
Joan Chen plays the great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. The film recounts this family, the mistakes they make, and a cycle that the granddaughter breaks out of.
It was well received by critics and was praised for its use of colour and the performances of Zhang Ziyi and Joan Chen.
根據蘇童的小說改編。章子怡在片中扮演了上海上個世紀30年代，50年代和80年代的三代女兒形象，陳沖相應的扮演了三代母親形象。影片描述了這個家庭犯下的錯誤，以及孫女最終如何擺脫命運的輪回。該片廣受好評，影片中的色彩運用和兩位女主角的表演也倍受讚譽。