[AMA-e-News] Meet the Curator, this Friday, 5/5

[Johnny Chio]

For Immediate Release

For more information, contact Ange Hwang
612-376-7715 or  angehwang@amamedia.org


Meet the Curator !!!
as part of 11th Annual Chinese Film Showcase (CFS) 2006
"Generation Gap in Chinese Cinema: Established - Emerging -Experimental"


As part of 11th Annual Chinese Film Showcase (CFS) 2006, Asian Media Access
will host a Curator Night with Mr. Zhenhua Li from China.  Mr. Li will show
his recent curating work - The Wave: A program of short films from China
and follow up with a community reception.  The event is hosted at 5/5 (Fri)
6-9pm at Cookie Cart, 1119 West Broadway, Minneapolis, MN 55411.  The event
is FREE, please join AMA to have a warm welcome for our overseas guest.

In collaboration with Walker Art Center,  The Wave: A program of short
films from China is curated by Mr. Zhenhua Li from China.  This Open-Ended
exhibition is featured at the Walker Art Center, Target Gallery May 5-7,
and runs continuously during gallery hours.    A new generation of Chinese
artists offers its perspective on the rapid transformation of their
homeland. Most were born during or after China's Cultural Revolution and
their works reflect the country's social, economic, and political changes.
Curator Zhenhua Li  has assembled this program of 14 experimental videos
from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Program running time is 105 minutes.

1201  - Directed by Wang Ning
Miscommunication and extreme repression are nuanced to shed light on the
inevitability of betrayal in human relationships. 2002, 12 minutes.

22Yuan - Directed by Du Jie
Despite the hustle of urban life in Beijing, people there can still be
lonely. 2001, 5 minutes.

Backyard-Hey! Sun Is Rising - Directed by Yang Fudong
This dreamy, magical realism-style work about waking up and exploring the
backyard includes enchanting sound by Zhou Qing, and a plot reminiscent of
the Peking Opera. 2001, 13 minutes.

Beautiful Cloud - Directed by Zhou Xiaohu
The theme of manipulation shines through in this film, and doll images
become the most important linguistic element. 2001, 4 minutes.

Burners - Directed by Cao Fei
This very short film explores desire, fantasizes about revolution and
liberty, and depicts intellectual rather than physical choices. 2003, 1
minute.

Danam - Directed by Zhang Dan and Chen Man.
This piece tests new technologies by combining photography, video, graphic
design, and 3-D design. 2003, 1 minute.

Fire - Directed by Wu Ershan
In this is a trial by fire, originally made for the Mearzmusik festival in
Berlin, the artist plays with questions of life or death. Music by Feng
Jiangzhou. 2002, 5 minutes.

Jerks Don't Say Fuck - Directed by Zhao Liang
The film uses remixed footage of military celebrations in Tiananmen Square
cut to a sound track by the Beijing band Sick Doctors; music composed by
Feng Jiangzhou. 2000, 5 minutes.

Me - Directed by Wu Quan
This home movie explores the reality of becoming a father. 2002, 12 minutes.

Mo Xi Town - Directed by Shi Qing
Mo Xi is the setting for this film about four young Tibetan men, snorkel
equipment in hand, who meet by chance as they anxiously await the flood.
2003, 12 minutes.

News Dance - Directed by 8GG
8GG (artists Jia Haiqing and Fu Yu), using randomly recorded Central China
TV news broadcasts as source material, create a composition of frames and
rhythms that reorders and animates the dullness of daily life. 2002, 3
minutes.

Ping Pong - Directed by Qiu Zhijie
Following children training for China's national sport, this documentary
tells how ping-pong was introduced into the country-and how it has become
an official tool to control people's minds and bodies. 1997, 22 minutes.

Summer of 1969 - Directed by Cao Kai
This film looks back at an odd list of idols, including Mao Tse-tung, Che
Guevara, Martin Luther King Jr., Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Malcolm X, Pol
Pot, and John Lennon, and connects China's Red Guards with Woodstock, the
hippies, Latin American guerrillas, Vietnamese communists, and political
refugees from Prague. 2002, 7 minutes.

Sing With Me - Directed by Zheng Yunhan
Heroic music from the 1960s and 1970s backs up this look at coal miners.
Inspired by his father, who worked in the mines, Zheng Yunhan tries to find
a positive way to look at the ironic life of the Chinese. 2004, 3 minutes.

The Wave: A program of short films from China is made possible by generous
support from the Bush Foundation.   The Showcase is made possible by
McKnight Foundation, MN Film Arts, MN State Arts Board, National Endowment
of the Arts, St. Paul Travelers, Target Foundation and University of
Minnesota.  For detailed information and show time, please call Asian Media
Access at 612-376-7715, or visit our web site at www.amamedia.org.


********** 11th Annual Chinese Film Showcase    ************

The Eleventh Annual Chinese Film Showcase (2006) runs from April 21 - May
19.  It features a collection of rarely screened films from Hong Kong,
China and Taiwan under the theme of "Generation Gap in Chinese Cinema:
Established - Emerging -Experimental."  In recent years, many young,
independent Chinese filmmakers have launched into the global spot light.
Ironically, their films may not even be known by Chinese audiences, but
have won the top international prizes.  The world is moved by clever
narrative, sharp social criticism with a touch of surrealism.   Chinese
film directors who made a name for themselves in the West, people like
Zhang Yimou (China) and Ang Lee (Taiwan) were in many ways traditionalists
who explore the richness of China's cultural history and examine how that
heritage had changed over the years and transformed as the monumental
events of the Twentieth Century changed both China and the rest of the
world.  There is a shift in outlook among Chinese filmmakers.  New
generation directors possess a much different attitude and filmmaking
approach than the previous generations.  How different that is, and why so
different will be the highlights of the 2006 Chinese Film Showcase.   The
Festival will compare directors from 3 regions - China, Hong Kong and
Taiwan.  Through each generation's works we see a changing society and the
way people live and adapt over time.   By comparing the different
generation's works, we appreciate and analyze how such differences and
similarities enrich the film language as a whole.    Please check AMA's
website for more information: www.amamedia.org