FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: CineCina Film Festival postpones fest due to Coronavirus and announces special LOVE AND DUTY screening
Following a decision to postpone the dates for the 2020 CineCina Film Festival from March to June, the CineCina Film Society announced a special film event featuring the presentation of Wancang Bu’s silent classic, LOVE AND DUTY (1931) and revealed the poster for this year’s edition of the film festival. Taking place at SVA (333 W. 23rd Street) on Thursday, March 20, the film will be presented with live accompaniment by Mønochef. The winners of this year’s CineCina Project Horizon will also be announced with a number of the winning filmmakers in attendance.
The decision to postpone the second edition of the film festival came as a result of challenges presented to the organization as a result of China working to contain the Coronavirus outbreak.
CineCina Film Festival Co-Director of Programming Frank Yan, said, “The Chinese film business has essentially been put on an indefinite hold – theaters have been closed, the film bureau is not reviewing films (therefore they can’t be cleared for release), and of course, there are travel restrictions which prevents getting filmmakers here. So, essentially – everything related to what we need to do with the film industry there is at a pause for the time being.”
CineCina Film Festival Founder and Director Vina Sun, added, “However, while it made sense to postpone what is becoming our signature film festival event in order to ensure its success, our mission continues. The special presentation of LOVE AND DUTY both celebrates a formative classic early Chinese film, and provides a lead in to the theme of this summer’s upcoming film festival, including the reveal of the film festival’s poster image. Add the excitement and joy of announcing the Project Horizon winners and the we have all the makings for a wonderful night for the lovers of Chinese cinema.”
Starring Lingyu Ruan, LOVE AND DUTY tells the story of a young woman forced to marry a man she doesn’t love. They have two children together but she never forgets her true love. When the two meet each other again, they run away together. However, guilt and longing for her children haunt her the rest of her life. The film was long considered lost, until a print was accidentally found in Uraguay in the 90s. The legendary Ruan, plays the main character from adolescence to old age and also doubles as the character’s teenage daughter. CineCina will be screening a 2K restored digital print of the film.
Live musical accompaniment for the screening will be provided by Mønochef, a sound artist and music producer based in Toronto. His minimal techno style and progressively dense productions is inspired by sampling and matching different elements from daily life, he blurs the boundaries of noise, sound and music.
The evening will also include the announcement of this year’s winners of CineCina’s Project Horizon film competition. The short film competition fosters, promotes and celebrates the development of new Chinese filmmakers. Filmmakers must meet one of the requirements, which include; the language of the film must be Mandarin Chinese, dialects or ethnic languages (including Cantonese, Mongolian, Tibetan, etc.); at least one key creative be on Chinese ethnicity (director, screenwriter, lead actor/actress, cinematographer, or editor; and the film’s content must focus on Chinese society, Chinese culture, or the lives of Chinese people. The winning films will then be screened during the CineCina Film Festival in June, with the filmmakers participating in post-screening Q&As.
The judges for this year’s Project Horizon include:
Ryan Krivoshey (Jury President) – Founder, Grasshopper Film
Lu Qingyi – Director, FOUR SPRINGS
Patrick Wang – Director, A BREAD FACTORY, IN THE FAMILY
Liao Xi – Director, ALA CHANGSO
Jun Li – Director, TRACEY
A Mei – Screenwriter, SO LONG MY SON
To buy tickets and for additional information, please go to: https://cine-cina.co/.
