This week marks the end of the 15th annual Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), which aims to bring Chinese films to global audiences and foster greater diversity in the film [ … ]
Category: Film
Past, present and poetry: Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui’s ‘July Rhapsody’
Contributor Daisy Singh Greaves reviews Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui’s ‘July Rhapsody’
Writer-director Shen Yu’s debut “Old Town Girls” captures the hopes and despairs of China’s youth
BY ANNABELLE JARRETT It doesn’t matter if our wishes sink… Shen Yu’s debut feature The Old Town Girls is a dark and dramatic story that highlights the frailty of youth [ … ]
Podcast Crossover: Time To Say Goodbye on ‘Ascension’, a documentary about Chinese consumerism and labor force
Hello from our summer hiatus! While we’re away, the pod squad is thrilled to share episodes from podcasts we love and admire. This week, we have an episode from Time [ … ]
Review: Han Chinese filmmaker Wang Lina’s “A First Farewell” is an uneasy depiction of Uyghur childhood
BY ANNABELLE JARRETT “A First Farewell” follows the story of two Uyghur Muslim children, close friends Isa and Kalbinur, growing up in a small village bordering the desert in China’s restive border [ … ]
‘Send me to the clouds’ is a scathing indictment of the stigma surrounding leftover women
BY ANNABELLE JARRETT First-time director and writer Teng Congcong’s feature debut Send Me to the Clouds is a scathing indictment of the stigma surrounding “leftover women” – and a warmly funny [ … ]
Review: My Prince Edward, a modern Hong Kong love story by writer-director Norris Wong
BY DAISY SINGH-GREAVES Cheung Lei-fong sits alone in a restaurant in Fuzhou, eating a bowl of noodles and looking content. Her phone starts pinging as she receives a string of [ … ]
Review: Mulan reinforces Han ethnonationalism and the patriarchy
BY EMILY MATSON In the opening scene of “Mulan,” the camera pans out to a desert situated in what is referred to as “the Silk Road, Northwest China.” After a man [ … ]
Hu Jie: The Chinese documentary filmmaker exposing the harsh realities of early Communist Party rule
BY ANNABELLE JARRETT Hu Jie is not a household name in China. Yet the Chinese documentary filmmaker and visual artist, renowned for the historical and political themes in his works, is perhaps [ … ]