
Tony Rayns presents the work of the 'Fifth Generation' and other innovative filmmakers who emerged during the 1980s in China.


Tony Rayns presents the work of the 'Fifth Generation' and other innovative filmmakers who emerged during the 1980s in China.
1989-04-09
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0.0In the life of Mr. Lai Man-wai, he had seen the most turbulent times of recent Chinese history. From the fall of the Qing Dynasty to the founding of the Republic, from the Sino-Japanese War to the founding of the People’s Republic. With a patriotic spirit, he joined the revolution and used the theatre to promote the revolutionary course. For a ‘stronger China’, and ‘education for all’, he chose film as his life long goal and career. Lai was more than the father of Hong Kong cinema was; he was also one of the pioneers of the Chinese cinema. He made Hong Kong’s first short fiction film ‘Zhuangzi Tests His Wife’. He opened the first Chinese owned cinema, the New World Cinema, in Hong Kong…. In the several decades, Lai had devoted his life and fortune in writing this glorious inaugural chapter in early Chinese film history. The technical enhancement, the introduction of foreign techniques and equipment were all part of his contribution to the Chinese cinema.
4.9An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.
6.0A police sniper teams up with a hot-headed rookie to take down his former friend and teammate, who is exacting revenge on the police force.
8.0Part two of A comedy film set on Shanghai film studio. The background events frequently involve the shooting of other films being made at Mingxing Film Company at the time. This includes a sequence of the 17th episode of the silent wuxia film series Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, which is the only known footage from this historic series to exist.
0.0Su Jin meets Li'er. As their bond grows, the weight of Su Jin being the crowned prince and Li'er as a cat spirit grows heavy.
0.0Based on the beloved children's book, elementary schooler Wang Bao discovers a wish-granting gourd that gives him the ability to make his dreams come true. Due to the gourd's erratic nature, Wang Bao confronts his own dishonesty amongst his peers and family, and realizes that you might not get everything you wish for.
10.0In June 1978, Patrick Vallençant made the first ski descent of the southeast face of Artesonjaru in Peru, in the Cordillera Blanca, 6,000 meters above sea level and 60° of slope. He left Huaraz on horseback, a donkey carrying his equipment. While crossing Cajas, the last village on the trail to Lake Paron, he was greeted by Victor and Cesar, two Indians who accompanied him to the lake. The climb to the summit was tiring, requiring as much effort from his arms as from his legs. The beginning of the descent was hesitant, the slope extremely steep. He achieved his feat on June 9, his thirty-second birthday.
0.0At the Delta of the Pinios River, in the shadow of Mount Olympus in central Greece, a small community of coastal fishermen work tirelessly to sustain their way of life. The film is driven by resilient and humorous characters, whose stories unfold over the seasons, set against the ever-present backdrop of water.
0.0Traversing the continent’s most rugged shoreline and dodging the tidal surge of the Pacific Ocean, the United States ultra-runner Dylan Bowman attempts the Fastest Known Time for traversing California’s Lost Coast. Shrouded in myth – and fog – the Lost Coast describes a section of California coastline so forbidding that it stymied even the most dogged engineers, who carved Highway One out of thousands of miles of West Coast forests and beaches. Highway One, which (often in combination with Highway 101) stretches from Orange County to Canada, makes only one exception to its coast-hugging route: the Lost Coast, where it veers inland, defeated by the vertiginous cliffs of the King Range.
10.0Eleven-year-old Papik (nickname for Yannick Vallençant) dreams of climbing Mont Blanc with his father, Patrick Vallençant. After serious training, the adventure begins: they set off from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, climb the ridge of the three Mont Blancs, bivouac at the Col de la Brenva, cross the Mur de la Côte and reach the summit of Mont Blanc. No child his age had ever before achieved this feat by this route.
Encounters in a community shaped by industry, which soon will cease to be. Between reject shops and employment agency: conversations about short-time work, freedom, and increase in rent, early retirement and the way into the west. Despair, resignation and remains of defiant hope.
7.0José Corbacho and Catalina Solivellas met thirty years ago sharing stages, dressing rooms, laughter and also some sadness. They they began to be aware of how therapeutic theater can be in difficult times. Years later, and inspired by Don Quixote, they decided to put together a free version of the chivalric novel, together with Mallorcan amateur actors and actresses with a mental health diagnosis. The documentary proposes a journey in which José, Catalina and the wonderful company created for the occasion, share stages, dressing rooms, laughter and also some tears.
6.7This film speaks of archaic peoples, their customs and mores, in an attempt to make the last snapshots of their traditional lifestyles before they are gone for good.
0.0Asháninka videomakers create a loving portrait of their own community, located in Acre, Brazil, near the border with Peru. The people organized to preserve a sustainable way of life on their forest lands, threatened by logging. Their efforts were recognized in 2007 with the Chico Mendes Prize for the Environment.
Award-winning director Yoav Shamir (Defamation, Checkpoint) sets out on an entertaining and insightful international quest, exploring the notion of heroism through a multi-faceted lens. From ordinary heroes to freedom fighters, primates to humans, behavioral scientists to geneticists, even Ayn Rand to Raelians, Shamir leaves no stone unturned, and along the way unveils the fundamental truths of human nature.
A pair of Independent Filmmakers, on a whim set out to learn more about the little known, Worst recorded Race Riot in American History the 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma Race Riot. They were struck by the amazing complexity of such a simple place. They set out to tell the story of a city and a riot. But were told the story of a place that is a pure reflection of America. This documentary is more than a view of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. It is an analysis of social, economic, religious, and human ethics yet investigated. The residents of Tulsa guide you through the evolution, and lack of, of their city. Religious Leaders, an Attorney, a City Councilman, a Community Activist, and an Educator guide you through this seething examination of the socio-economic and racial paradoxes of America.
0.0In 1954, before his senior year of high school, Wilt Chamberlain took a summer job that would change his life, working as a bellhop at Kutsher's Country Club, a Jewish resort in the Catskill Mountains. An unexplored and pivotal chapter in the life of one of basketball's greatest players, and a fascinating glimpse of a time when a very different era of basketball met the Borscht Belt in its heyday.