CineCina teams with Kino Lorber for real Chinese heroines and Jia Zhangke virtual double features
CineCina teams with Kino Lorber this week and next to offer special virtual double features via Kino Marquee. This week, as a response to the Disney+ release of the live-action version of MULAN, CineCina and Kino Lorber will screen documentaries on “real” Chinese heroines, Denise Ho (DENISE HO – BECOMING THE SONG) and Ye Haiyan (HOOLIGAN SPARROW). Next week, two classics from Jia Zhangke (I WISH I KNEW and A TOUCH OF SIN) will be presented.
CineCina Film Festival Co-Director of Programming penned a commentary regarding issues with, and criticism of Disney’s MULAN for MovieMaker Magazine entitled, “Disney’s MULAN is Anything But ‘Loyal, Brave, True’” and this week’s presentations are an effort to call attention to that through these two celebrated documentaries.
Yan, said, “Watching both of these films that focus on two amazing women from China and Hong Kong who have demonstrated what it means to be a leader, to be brave, to be heroic, stands in sharp contrast to the version of MULAN that Disney has delivered to film audiences. The fact that both films are the work of wonderful women filmmakers underlines why we suggest watching these films as an alternative for those seeking their Chinese heroine “fix” this week.”
Next week, the CineCina Kino Lorber partnership will present a sequel of sorts on Kino Marquee with the presentation of two films from Jia Zhangke, a director who Richard Brody (The New Yorker) described as “one of the best and most important directors in the world.” I WISH I KNEW (2010) and the filmmaker’s masterwork, A TOUCH OF SIN (2013) will be presented.
For tickets for this week’s Chinese heroines documentaries, please go to: https://kinomarquee.com/film/denise-ho-becoming-the-song/5ef0ec20480594000185e696/cinecina and/or https://kinomarquee.com/film/hooligansparrow/5c80258667209a0ee000c04e/cinecina.
CineCina/Kino Lorber Marquee Films and Descriptions
Chinese and Hong Kong Heroines Films
DENISE HO – BECOMING THE SONG
Director: Sue Williams
Country: USA, Running Time: 83 min
DENISE HO – BECOMING THE SONG profiles the openly gay Hong Kong singer and human rights activist Denise Ho. Drawing on unprecedented, years-long access, the film explores her remarkable journey from commercial Cantopop superstar to outspoken political activist, an artist who has put her life and career on the line to support the determined struggle of Hong Kong citizens to maintain their identity and freedom.
HOOLIGAN SPARROW (2016)
Director: Nanfu Wang
Country: USA, Running Time: 84 min
Ye Haiyan (a.k.a Hooligan Sparrow) is labeled a troublemaker by the Chinese government – someone who embarrasses the state with, for example, public protests involving the civil rights of sex workers. In this tense documentary, she travels to Hainan Province to protest a case in which the sexual mistreatment of elementary-age school girls by their principal has gone unprosecuted. As slow as the totalitarian regime may be to punish state officials, it’s much quicker to intimidate, harass, and threaten with prison those who question it. Will Sparrow survive her latest battle? And will equally fearless filmmaker Nanfu Wang also disappear into the mouth of the dragon?
Jia Zhangke Films
A TOUCH OF SIN (2013)
Director: Jia Zhangke
Country: China, Running Time: 125 min
This daring, poetic and grand-scale film focuses on four characters, each living in different provinces, who are driven to violent ends. An angry miner, enraged by widespread corruption in his village, decides to take justice into his own hands. A rootless migrant discovers the infinite possibilities of owning a firearm. A young receptionist, who dates a married man and works at a local sauna, is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. And a young factory worker goes from one discouraging job to the next, only to face increasingly degrading circumstances.
I WISH I KNEW (2010)
Director: Jia Zhangke
Country: China, Running Time: 119 min
Shanghai’s past and present flow together in Jia Zhangke’s poetic and poignant portrait of this fast-changing port city. Restoring censored images and filling in forgotten facts, Jia provides an alternative version of 20th century China’s fraught history as reflected through life in the Yangtze city.He builds his narrative through a series of eighteen interviews with people from all walks of life-politicians’ children, ex-soldiers, criminals, and artists (including Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien)– while returning regularly to the image of his favorite lead actress, Zhao Tao, wandering through the Shanghai World Expo Park. (The film was commissioned by the World Expo, but is anything but a piece of straightforward civic boosterism.) A richly textured tapestry full of provocative juxtapositions.
