CHINESE FILM MINI SERIES WILL BE SCREENED AT BARD COLLEGE IN OCTOBER

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—In observance of the fifty-first anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China on October 1, the Asian Studies Program and Bard in China will present a Chinese film mini series at Bard College during the month of October. Three films will be screened at 7:00 p.m., on Monday, October 2; Tuesday, October 3; and Wednesday, October 4, in Bertelsmann Campus Center's Weis Cinema. All the films have English subtitles. An open discussion period will follow each film, along with refreshments. Both the films and reception are free and open to the public.

On Monday, October 2, Tom McGrath, visiting professor of Chinese history at Cornell University, will introduce the 1999 film The Emperor and the Assassin. This sweeping historical epic dramatizes the story of Ying Zheng, the third-century B.C.E. ruler who became China's first emperor after conquering and forcibly unifying the country's seven kingdoms. "In the high-stakes imperial politics of The Emperor and the Assassin every appearance is a deception," notes Stephen Holden for the New York Times. Directed by Chen Kaige, the film stars Gong Li and Li Xuejian.

On Tuesday, October 3, Li-hua Ying, professor of Chinese at Bard College, will introduce the second film, The Day the Sun Turns Cold (1994). Hailed as the first true film noir from mainland China, it follows the tale of a northern Chinese welder who goes to police headquarters to accuse his mother of having poisoned his father ten years earlier. Through regressive flashbacks, the truth about his father's death is revealed, as well as his relationship with his mother. Directed by Yim Ho.

On Wednesday, October 4, the final film, The City of Glass (1998), will be introduced by Gang Xu, professor of Chinese at Simon’s Rock College of Bard and at Bard College. This love story is set in Hong Kong in the sixties and nineties against the backdrop of the city's handover to China in 1997. "An imitation of the Hollywood style, this movie nevertheless provides a self-reflection of the in-betweenness and the mimicry typical of coloniality. Such a self-reflection," according to Xu, "is necessary for not only decolonialization but also the prevention from being engulfed by nationalist sentiments." The film is directed by Cheung Yuen-Ting and stars Leon Lai and Hsu Chi.

Bard in China is a new program that has been established to enhance learning from and about China through events and exchanges. For further information, call 758-7388 or e-mail [email protected].

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This event was last updated on 03-02-2001

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