On September 20, 25 & 27, 2013, The Wooster Group will present Performing China: Contemporary Chinese Film and Media. Organized by independent curator and critic Zhou Xin, the program presents work made between 2009 and 2013 by film and media artists not often screened in the U.S. Focusing on moving image works related to such topics as repressed memory, performance, landscape and immigration, the series considers the shifting relationship between the personal and the national.
Performing China features several U.S. theatrical premieres and includes work by Gu Tao, Huang Xiang, J.P. Sniadecki, Miao Jiaxin, Wen Hui and Xu Ruotao. Combining shorts and feature-length films, the series offers New York audiences a glimpse into the cutting-edge of independent moving image work in China today. Breaking away from established conventions and political intervention, Chinese independent cinema emerged in the late 1980s as a challenging and dynamic form. This program showcases just a fraction of the work produced in a constantly shifting field, providing a window on to the country through the lens of these filmmakers.
Special thanks to Libbie Dina Cohn and Yang Aonan (GreenGround Productions).
Program Schedule
Friday, September 20 @ 7pm – Ruin Tourism
On the Way to the Sea. Directed by Gu Tao. 2009.
Building Archaeology. Directed by Xu Ruotao. 2011.
Yumen. Directed by J.P.Sniadecki, Xu Ruotao, Huang Xiang. 2013.
*Zhou Xin will lead a post-screening discussion of the films.
More information and reservations »
Wednesday, September 25 @ 7pm – Performing the Cultural Revolution
Rumination. Directed by Xu Ruotao. 2009.
*Professor Angela Zito, co-director of the New York University Center for Religion and Media, will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
More information and reservations »
Friday, September 27 @ 7pm – Body as Archive
Listening to Third Grandmother’s Stories. Directed by Wen Hui. 2011.
Chinaman’s Suitcase. Directed by Miao Jiaxin. 2011.
*Miao Jiaxin will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
More information and reservations »
Admission is free ($10 suggested donation). The house will open approximately 10 minutes before the screenings begin.
events:
Performing China: Contemporary Chinese Film and Media
Program One: Ruin Tourism
Friday, September 20, 2013 @ 7 pmThe first night of Performing China: Contemporary Chinese Film and Video features Yumen, a documentary that experiments with a variety of forms to explore a once-thriving boom town in China’s northwest. Two short films are also on the program. Building Archaelogy examines the personal and political histories connected to three spaces: an artist’s studio, an abandoned hospital complex that once housed SARS patients, and a prison cell. In On the Way to the Sea, Gu Tao returns to his home in Sichuan in the aftermath of the catastrophic 2008 earthquake.
On the Way to the Sea
Directed by Gu Tao. 20 minutes. 2009. In Chinese with English subtitles.
Building Archaeology (aka A Study of Architecture)
Directed by Xu Ruotao. 15 minutes. 2011. In Chinese with English subtitles.
Yumen
Directed by J.P. Sniadecki, Xu Ruotao, & Huang Xiang. 65 minutes. 2013. In Chinese with English subtitles.
Zhou Xin, the curator of Performing China will lead a post-screening discussion of the films.
Admission is free ($10 suggested donation). The house will open approximately 10 minutes before the screening begins.
Return to the main Performing China page »
more info »
Performing China: Contemporary Chinese Film and Media
Program Two: Performing the Cultural Revolution
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 @ 7 pmThe second night of the Performing China series is devoted to Xu Ruotao’s Rumination which explores the Cultural Revolution by depicting both its chaotic later years and its legacy in today’s China.
Rumination
Directed by Xu Ruotao. 104 Minutes. 2009. In English with Chinese subtitles.
*Professor Angela Zito, co-director of the New York University Center for Religion and Media, will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
Return to the main Performing China page »
more info »
Performing China: Contemporary Chinese Film and Media
Program Three: Body as Archive
Friday, September 27, 2013 @ 7 pmThe third night of the Performing China film series features choreographer Wen Hui’s first documentary film, Listening to Third Grandmother’s Stories. Based on Wen’s third grandmother (great aunt) Su Mei-Ling’s reminiscences about love, everyday life, and the political reforms that have shaped the People’s Republic of China, the film experiments with embodied memory, sensory transmission, and the passage of time in performance. The short Chinaman’s Suitcase documents a public performance that Shanghai-born, Brooklyn-based artist Miao Jiaxin performed in New York’s Chinatown and Zucotti Park.
Listening to Third Grandmother’s Stories
Directed by Wen Hui. 75 minutes. 2011. Digital video. In Chinese with English subtitles.
Chinaman’s Suitcase
Directed by Miao Jiaxin. 7 minutes. 2011. Digital video.
Total program running time: 81 minutes.
*Miao Jiaxin will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
Return to the main Performing China page »
more info »