FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: CineCina debuts mobile phone film festival CineCina iFest
CineCina teams with Smart Cinema USA for the first CineCina iFest available to the public from now through August 31. Available for viewing exclusively on mobile devices via The SmartCinema USA app. Highlighted by Oliver Mays’ drama BITTER FLOWERS, Lou Ye’s THE SHADOW PLAY, and a mini retrospective of director Midi Z’s work, the CineCina iFest is the organization’s latest foray into exploring new exhibition methods following the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of audiences attending screening events and viewing films in theaters.
BITTER FLOWERS
THE SHADOW PLAY
CineCina, which has quickly made a name for itself in New York championing Chinese and world cinema, recently concluded its first Online Film Festival, and has received notice for projecting iconic film scenes set in New York City on buildings in Manhattan to celebrate the gradual reopening of the state. CineCina has steadfastly continued its mission to celebrate film and promote filmmaking in the city during a time when everyone continues to deal with the realities of managing the pandemic caused by COVID-19.
CineCina Film Festival Co-Director of Programming Frank Yan, said, “The last decade has solidified how much we all rely on our mobile devices. For most of us, the small screen of our phones has become the most essential interaction tool. At the same time, film, while being an art form created for the big screen, has found a home on our phones just as it has on big screen televisions, desktop and laptop computers.
During a time when we are forced to question much of what we previously accepted as intractable, filmmakers from around the globe are more and more interested in discussing the ontology of cinema. Therefore, we are thrilled to provide a new perspective by launching CineCina iFest with Smart Cinema USA, because we believe for this subject matter, the way we watch the film will also impact how we think about the film.”
THE PLUTO MOMENT
Among the films featured will be Meys’ BITTER FLOWERS, about a young woman who goes to Paris with the hope of providing for her family, but finds out the only way to achieve it is to become a sex worker; Zhang Ming’s THE PLUTO MOMENT, about a film director that leads his crew into the mountains for inspiration from “The Tale of Darkness”; and Lou Ye’s THE SHADOW PLAY, about a young police officer, who, while investigating a public official’s death, discovers a history of corruption that led up to the crime.
CineCina’s iFest will also include a mini retrospective of Midi Z’s work. The trio of films include his directorial debut RETURN TO BURMA (2011) about the current state of Myanmar (Burma) upon the protagonist’s arrival back home; the drama, POOR FOLK (2012) about a young man who falls in with hustlers after his sister is the victim of human trafficking; and the thriller, ICE POISON (2014), about a young farmer who is lured into selling crystal meth in order to survive.
For tickets and passes for the CineCina iFest, please go to: https://cine-cina.co/. For those who prefer the more traditional and bigger screen watching experience, the option of AirPlay is provided.
RETURN TO BURMA
ICE POISON
The 2020 CineCina iFilm Film Festival Films and Descriptions
BITTER FLOWERS (2017)
Director: Olivier Meys
Countries: China/France/Belgium/Switzerland, Running Time: 95 min
Lina is happily married and mother to a ten-year-old boy. However, she senses that the world around her is collapsing. It’s the end of the 20th century, Manchuria, a formerly prosperous industrial area, can’t seem to adjust to China’s changes. She decides to go to Paris to earn money to better support her son back at home. However, nothing goes as planned and now she must try to hide the “shameful” reality of her life in France from her loved ones.
CHINA’S FORGOTTEN DAUGHTERS (2017)
Directors: Vincent Du & Han Meng
Countries: China/Hong Kong, Running Time: 70 min
Documentary tells an intimate story of one woman’s journey as she questions the country’s traditional notions of family and identity, revealing the wounds that tear at the heart of Chinese society in the aftermath of the one-child policy.
IN SEARCH OF ECHO
Director: Zhang Chi
Country: China, Running Time: 112 min
An actor with few jobs offers, Mr. Zhu hops on a ferry in search of his wife, on the island where they first met. It is low season on the island, with few visitors in plain sight. Yet Zhu continues to actively photograph everything on the island. He encounters various islanders, gets familiar with a hotel owner, becomes attracted to a primary school teacher, and engages in romance with the manager of a local dance club. While he begins a fascinating journey, his wife is still nowhere to be found…
THE PLUTO MOMENT
Director: Zhang Ming
Country: China, Running Time: 110 min
Wang Zhun, a film director living in Shanghai, travels to the deep mountains of southwest China seeking the inspiration for his next film via the performance of the traditional song of mourning, “The Tale of Darkness.” He is accompanied by his producer, a handsome young actor just beginning his career; and a videographer. Over time, the crew becomes lost in the distant mountains and followed by problems with their lodging and transportation. During the trip, Wang Zhuan decides he wants his estranged wife, a famous actress to be his film, despite her belief that the film will be impossible to make.
THE SHADOW PLAY (2018)
Director: Lou Ye
Country: China, Running Time: 124 min
During a demolition riot, Tang Yijie, the Construction Committee Director, falls off of a rooftop and dies. Yang Jiadong, a young police officer, discovers that Tang’s death is tied up with another case from several years ago. Soon he is framed and suspended from duty, but he refuses to stop investigating. The film unfolds how individuals and family make fortune in the past 30 years since the reform in China began.
Midi Z Mini Retrospective: The Homecoming Trilogy
Currently based in Taiwan, and possibly Myanmar’s most prominent director on the international stage, Midi Z is a protégé of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, one of the most important filmmakers in the Taiwanese New Wave and in the history of world cinema. Midi Z’s films tell stories not only about the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, but also about the Burmese diaspora in Taiwan. The subjects of Midi Z’s films are often social issues such as poverty and economic displacement that plague Myanmar, his home country, issues which are connected to socio-economic relations with neighboring countries such as Laos and Thailand.
ICE POISON (2014)
Director: Midi Z
Countries: Myanmar/Taiwan, Running Time: 95 min
A young farmer and his father are barely able to survive on their meager corn harvest and so they make their way down from the mountains to the village to borrow money from their relatives working in jade mines or on opium plantations. But missing paperwork, deceit and corruption have left them impoverished too. Finally, the father pawns his cow for a moped so that his son can earn a living as a taxi driver. His first customer is Sanmei, who has returned to Myanmar to bury her grandfather. She decides not to go back to China and to get out of an arranged marriage in order to begin a new life with her son in her old country. When Sanmei accepts a job as a drug runner she persuades the young farmer to be her driver.
POOR FOLK (2012)
Director: Midi Z
Countries: Myanmar/Taiwan, Running Time: 105
Arranged by a smuggling syndicate, A Hong and his young teen sister, along with a group of Burmese young, sneak across the Myanmar/Thailand border and arrive at a remote town called Dagudi in Northern Thailand. A Hong’s sister is soon taken away by the gangs, sold by her Mother. A Hong goes to Bangkok to work for a tour guide, a wildcatter from Myanmar who has lived in Thailand illegally for years. However, a flood kills the tourism business and they return to Dagudi, trying to sell a batch of medicine to local gang leaders, as A Hong attempts to save his sister.
RETURN TO BURMA (2011)
Director: Midi Z
Countries: Myanmar/Taiwan, Running Time: 84 min
As Burma (Myanmar) holds its first presidential election in decades, many of the Burmese living inforeign lands believe that changes will happen soon, and it will move towards prosperity. So Xing-hong and Rong decide to return home. However, just a few days before departure, during an overtime shift, Rong has a fatal accident. Now, traveling alone, Xing-hong returns to find that his brother De is about to go to Malaysia to work. Many young people want to leave Burma, but Xing-hong has always wanted to build a life in his hometown. He begins asking around for possible business opportunities, but cannot decide which direction he should pursue. To Xing-hong, Burma now seems unfamiliar and distant, because he has been gone for too long.
