nwFilmCenter
My China Now - Part II
Thurs, Oct 29, 2009
Hours: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:
Whitsell Auditorium
1219 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
Cost: $8.00 General / $7.00 Portland Art Museum Members, Students and Seniors
The second program of short films by Chinese filmmakers includes 16 works offering unique prisms through which to view contemporary Chinese society. Among the selections: Wu Ershan's ZHAI YUN'S CHINA, in which he invites a blind 11-year-old to describe his China; Jin Shan's 25,000 MILES TO HEAVEN, a meditation on the utopian ideals of the past in the light of the present economic rollercoaster; Wang Peng's RMB, which considers money, money, money: a symbol, an emblem, a security net, and the root of numerous new evils; Wang Qingson's SKYSCRAPER, a monument to human ambition, but perhaps an allusion to actual triumph; Xue Li's 751: A PROCESS OF MODERNIZATION, documenting the makeover of a former factory complex into a new consumer paradise; Chen Zhong's SICHUAN STREET SONGS, which captures the songs performed day in and day out by local vendors pounding the streets of Chengdu; Shu Haolun's STRUGGLE, which chronicles a self-taught lawyer's battle to fight for health care for injured workers in the fast-paced mecca of Shenzhen, where streets may be paved with gold, but factories definitely are not; Shu Haolun's YIWU, exploring a small town in Zhejiang Province that is claimed to be the Mecca of "Made in China" goods.
About Lens on China
Since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, China has undergone a series of profound, ever-accelerating transformations spurred by experiments with a market economy and a more open approach to foreign investment and external cultures. In the last decade the consequences of these changes have dramatically impacted China and its place in the world. What have these dynamic developments meant for its 1.3 billion citizens? There are, of course, almost as many stories to tell. For millions there have been astounding opportunities. For millions of others, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Concurrent with the Portland Art Museum's CHINA DESIGN NOW exhibition, the Northwest Film Center explores the perspectives of Chinese and western filmmakers whose works reflect on the broad currents of contemporary change in Chinese society. As China's past and future collide, the works by these media artists provide unique insight into the social and aesthetic confusions, obstacles, and opportunities being navigated in the interstices between history, daily reality, and the future's promises.
