Fwd: Pico Iyer, Cultural Revolution Film Series and More!

About Us | Tickets | Membership | Donate | Home         Pico Iyer, Cultural Revolution Film Series and More!      Under Mao's Red Sun: China's Cultural Revolution on Film A series of five documentary films examines the historical context and life during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution (1966-76). These documentaries focus on the people—Red Guards, victims of persecution, artists, and ordinary citizens—whose lives were fundamentally changed by Mao's Revolution. For Tickets Click Here   Meet the Author: Pico Iyer Septermber 13, 2008 - 3:00pm Take a personal look at the Dalai Lama. Iyer shares his day-to-day journeys with the global spiritual leader, capturing paradoxes in the Dalai Lama. Born in one of the most remote places, he champions globalism and technology; he is a religious leader who warns against being needlessly distracted by religion. Followed by a book signing and reception. Books available at AsiaStore. For Tickets Click Here      Friday, September 12, 2008, 7:00 pm MORNING SUN Directed by Carma Hinton, Geremie R. Barmé, and Richard Gordon USA/England/France. 2003. 117 min. Digibeta. From the makers of The Gate of Heavenly Peace, this documentary combines rarely-seen footage from newsreels, propaganda films, and old documentaries, as well as first-person accounts by former Red Guards and their victims, to create an insightful chronicle of traumatic events during the Cultural Revolution. (In English and Chinese with English subtitles.)   "Compelling and illuminating."—Seattle Post-Intelligencer  "A huge contribution to our understanding of what was going on in the minds of those teenage Red Guards." –Sight and Sound Friday, September 19, 2008, 7:00 pm YANG BAN XI—THE EIGHT MODEL WORKS Directed by Yan Ting Yuen The Netherlands. 2005. 90 min. 35mm. Yang Ban Xi were propaganda model plays created under the leadership of Mao's wife Jiang Qing. Stunning Beijing opera motifs, virtuosic ballet sequences, and Western orchestral music combine to create spectacles that glorify peasants, soldiers, and the Party. During the Cultural Revolution, these plays and their vividly-colored widescreen film adaptations were the only ones audiences could see. This documentary includes footage of these sensational films as well as interviews with stars made famous by them. The memory of the Yang Ban Xi brings forth both distress and a sense of nostalgia. (In English and Chinese with English subtitles.) "Absorbing, shrewdly intelligent."—New York Times Image: Poster of Red Detachment of Women, a model work. Courtesy of Shadow Distribution. Friday, September 26, 2008, 7:00 pm CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION Directed by David Hinton UK. 1995. 85 min. DVcam. Winner of a BAFTA award (the highest British film/television award), this documentary reunites classical musicians who studied at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music but spent most of their time forming Red Guard units and criticizing their teachers during the Cultural Revolution. Eventually sent to the countryside for hard labor, the now middle-aged friends speak of the period with a mixture of regret, anger, and nostalgia. (In English and Chinese with English subtitles.) "Outstanding documentary... unforgettable story."—Independent on Sunday Saturday, October 11, 2008, 3:00 pm CHUNG KUO CHINA Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni Italy. 1972. 207 min. Digibeta. In 1972, European art cinema master Antonioni went to China to make a documentary for Italian television. The resulting film enraged the Communist authorities, who called the filmmaker reactionary, anti-Chinese, and imperialist for showing "barren farmlands, lonely elderlies, tired animals, and broken houses." The masses were mobilized in a major campaign to criticize a film they had never seen and a filmmaker they had never heard of. The film, not shown in China until 2004 and now rarely seen in the West, is a significant historical text that provides glimpses of a largely inaccessible country during the Cultural Revolution. (In Italian with English subtitles.) "Chung Kuo China is a film about a China seen but not known, observed, but not explained, and that is its wonderful power and its secret happiness."— Film scholar Sam Rohdie This screening of Chung Kuo China (1972) is supported in part by the Italian Cultural Institute and Cineteca Nazionale, Rome, Italy. Saturday, October 18, 2008, 7:00 pm RED ART Directed by Hu Jie, Ai Xiaoming China. 2008. 70 min. DVcam. Under Mao's leadership, art was made to serve the "workers, peasants, soldiers, and the cause of socialism." A large amount of artwork, including billboard-scaled paintings and mass-produced posters, was created to promote the Party's ideology. In this film, the filmmakers—two of China's most active independent documentary filmmakers—talk to artists, including Liu Chunhua (who created the famous painting-turned-poster Mao Goes to Anyuan) about their participation. Other interview subjects include former Red Guards, academics, and collectors of Cultural Revolution relics and memorabilia who discuss the significance of these artworks then and now. (In Chinese with English subtitles.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Events Sikh Film Festival 2008 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2008 10 am - 12 Midnight Feature Presentation: Ocean of Pearls Documentaries: -Sikhs in America - Emmy Award Winner -A Dream in Doubt - Featured on PBS Independent Lens -Warrior Boyz -Pahelwani - History, Tradition and Art of Punjabi Wrestling 10 Short & Children's Films Meet Filmmakers, Producers, Judges, Actors & Celebrities from across the Globe Distinguished Panel of Judges will decide Winners in Short & Documentary Genres After Party at Asia Society's Garden Court - Mingle with fellow Festival Guests - Dance to High Energy Bhangra & Punjabi Music by DJ Rekha Venue ASIA SOCIETY & MUSEUM 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, New York, NY TICKETS AVAILABLE AT http://www.sikharts.com OR (877) SIKH-ARTS

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