September 17, 2009
A Decent Factory: Nokia in China - December 12 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, December 12, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Thomas Balmès; China, 2005; 79 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
In an increasingly globalized economy, more corporations are outsourcing their production to countries with cheaper labor costs and less legal protection of workers’ rights. Some corporate managers, whether out of sincere moral concern or because they must respond to the considerations of investors and shareholders, are attempting to balance profit-making with social morality. A Decent Factory focuses on such an effort by Nokia, the Finnish electronics firm, which sends a team led by two business ethics advisors to examine conditions at a Chinese factory that supplies parts to Nokia. Filmmaker Thomas Balmès, having conducted three years of research on the subject, follows them on their investigative journey. “Funny, perceptive . . . a moral investigation into the profit motive.” BBC
Posted by kanepark at 06:02 PM
To Tell the Truth: The Liu Binyan Story - December 5 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Yung Chang; Canada, 2008; 93 minutes (English, Mandarin and Sichuan dialect with English subtitles)
Beginning in 1949, journalist Liu Binyan began a long career of writing and reporting about the injustices and the sufferings of ordinary people in China, with a fervent devotion to social ideals. Fearless and outspoken, Liu suffered many consequences, including being kicked out of the Communist Party twice, and sent to labor camps for more than 20 years. In the spring of 1988, he left for the United States to write and teach but was barred from ever returning to China. Often referred to as “the Conscience of China,” Liu was named one of Time Magazine’s Asian Heroes in 2003. Through interviews and archival footage, his film documents the story of Liu Binyan and his determination to speak the truth.
Posted by kanepark at 06:01 PM
Please Vote for Me - November 14 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, February 14, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Weijun Chen; 2007; 52 minutes (Mandarin and English with English subtitles)
Trailer:
An experiment in democracy is taking place in Wuhan, the most populous city in central China. For the first time ever, the students in grade three at Evergreen Primary School are asked to elect a class monitor. Traditionally appointed by the teacher, the class monitor holds a powerful position, helping to control students and doling out punishment to those who disobey. Three candidates are chosen and required to perform in three events: a talent show, a debate and finally an appeal directly to their classmates asking for their votes. The campaign is harder than expected and takes its toll, especially for the losing candidates and their assistants. Viewers are left to decide if the experiment in democracy has been “successful.”
Posted by kanepark at 05:58 PM
Interesting Times: War of Love - October 17 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Jiang Yue and Duan Jinchuan, 2003; 45 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
Beijing social worker Hu Yanping and her friend nurse Liu Xian spend all their evenings and weekends running an amateur dating agency. The agency flourishes in a social climate where China’s new career women discover that their new found wealth and independence is threatening to many men, making it harder to find husbands. In sharp contrast to her dating service, social worker Hu Yanping spends her working day as a lawyer dealing with women victims of marital breakdown and domestic violence.
Posted by kanepark at 05:56 PM
The Trash Trade: Selling Garbage to China - October 10 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
Produced by NHK; 2006; China; 49 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
Japanese waste is turning into gold in the hands of Chinese dealers who extract valuable metal and plastic from mountains of scrap. The rubbish is carefully disassembled in China, then made into new cars and clothes that are shipped back to Japan. But, there is a problem. Japan’s own recycling industry is running out of raw materials and not all Japanese trash is welcome. Recycling is regarded as the keystone of sustainability, but is recycling itself sustainable?
Posted by kanepark at 05:48 PM
Pollution in China - October 10 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: October 10, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
Televisio de Catalunya; 2008; China; 30 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
Since the economic reforms of the 1980s, runaway economic growth has turned China into a major creator of pollution. While the Chinese government tries to grapple with its growing environmental problems, rising discontent among the masses augurs political changes. A look at the cities of Chongqing and Linfen and the rise of environmental grassroots campaigns in these cities.
Posted by kanepark at 05:47 PM
Storm Under the Sun - October 3rd at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, October 3, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
Trailer:
Storm Under the Sun was inspired by the memories of film director Peng Xiaolian. In 1955 when she was just two, her father, Peng Boshan, was arrested as part of a national campaign directed at the “counterrevolutionary Hu Feng clique.” Peng Boshan (1910-1968) was at the time head of the Ministry of Propaganda in Shanghai and since the 1930s had been a devoted revolutionary activist in the communist movement. His tragic “mistake” was to have befriended Hu Feng, a literary critic and theorist who promoted a vision of literature at odds with Maoist dogma. Imprisoned until 1957, Peng Boshan was exiled to various remote regions and tragically died during the early years of the Cultural Revolution. Her memories of a mostly absent father who could never be more than a stranger to her was the stimulus for the making of this moving and powerful documentary.
Posted by kanepark at 05:44 PM
April 13, 2009
W09 CCS Chinese Documentary Film Series - RESCHEDULED FILM
RESCHEDULED FILM: We regret the problem with our copy of SWING IN BEIJING on Saturday, April 11th that resulted in the film being canceled.
Therefore, we have ordered a new copy and the film has been rescheduled to be shown on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 7:00pm in Auditorium A Angell Hall. Hope you can make it!
Posted by zzhu at 09:04 PM
December 08, 2008
Up the Yangtze - February 14 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, February 14, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Yung Chang; Canada, 2008; 93 minutes (English, Mandarin and Sichuan dialect with English subtitles)
Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang returns to the gorgeous, now-disappearing landscape of his grandfather’s youth to trace the surreal life of a “farewell cruise? that traverses the gargantuan waterway. With narrative agility, a humanist gaze and wry wit, Chang’s approach beautifully captures the microcosmic society of the luxury liner: below deck, a bewildered young girl trains as a dishwasher, sent to work by her peasant family who is on the verge of relocation from the encroaching floodwaters. Above deck, a phalanx of wealthy international tourists set sail to catch a last glance of a country in dramatic flux. Singularly moving and cinematically breathtaking, Up the Yangtze gives a human dimension to the wrenching changes facing not only an increasingly globalized China, but the world at large.
Posted by batesbe at 11:49 AM
China Upside Down - February 28 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, February 28, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
Directed by Freddy Coppens; 2008; 52 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
In 1992, Deng Xiaoping’s infamous slogan “it is glorious to get rich? unleashed one of the biggest revolutions in the thousand year-old country of China. Deng threw the “classless society? and the “equal division of the means of production? to the wind. As the narrator says, “You can smell money everywhere.? This film profiles several families who rose from subsistence incomes to fabled luxury through the inventiveness and ambition of the extended family. The stories of these families provide an insight into the unique fusion of capitalism and communism that is becoming present day China.
Posted by batesbe at 11:48 AM
Love and Sex in China - March 7 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
Produced and Directed by Annemarie Gallone, 2008; 51 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
Click on the photo to view the trailer.
As China changes at an awesome rate, becoming more industrialized, urban and westernized, this film explores how this has impacted traditional relationships between men and women. Our guide is a young journalist, Yang Li Ne, whose parents have just divorced and whose own marriage is unraveling. She speaks about love and sex with young Beijingers, as well as older couples from the villages. Many of the young are afraid of commitment and are cynical about love and marriage. Money, not love, they say, is the basis for marriage. Prostitution is rampant; an estimated 6% of the national revenue comes from prostitution. Older couples reflect on the vanishing traditions that have given their marriages stability. A young gay man who was hesitant to be identified describes the homophobia in Chinese society and the secrecy with which gay and lesbians must lead their lives. He talks about the difference between making love and having sex. Examples of China’s traditional erotic art, which was nurtured by the imperial court, are laced throughout the film. (Please Note: This film would be rated R)
Posted by batesbe at 11:47 AM
Swing in Beijing - April 11 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Shui-Bo Wang; China, 2000; 74 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
A comprehensive survey of creative life in contemporary Beijing, Swing in Beijing captures a remarkable impression of the current state of fine and performing arts in this rapidly changing city. Academy Award nominee Shui-Bo Wang has incorporated interviews with artists, filmmakers, and musicians – including rock musician Gao Xing, painter Wei Dong, commercial artist Zhan Wang, filmmaker Jia Zhangke, and theater director Men Jeng Hui – along with clips of films, plays, music videos, paintings and other artwork in galleries and studios, and revealing footage of a city in transition. "A powerful impression of a varied, radical, and seemingly vibrant arts underground . . . a surprising, provocative, and stimulating look at this potentially influential subculture." – Professor Patrick Dowdey, Wesleyan University, Curator of the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies.
Posted by batesbe at 11:46 AM
The Bird’s Nest: Herzog and de Meuron in China - March 21 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Christoph Schaub and Michael Schindheim; 2008; 88 minutes (Mandarin and English with English subtitles)
Many events of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games took place in the brand new, 100,000-seat National Stadium. Plans for this massive structure began in 2003, when Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron were selected by the Chinese government to design the new stadium, which because of its curved steel-net walls was soon dubbed by the locals as the “bird’s nest.? This documentary chronicles the five-year effort to build the stadium, as well as Herzog and de Meuron’s design for a new city district in Jinhua, involving hotels, office and residential buildings. Both projects involved complex and often difficult negotiations and communications between two cultures, two architectural traditions and two political systems. In addition to following the progress of both projects, from initial design and groundbreaking, Bird’s Nest features interviews with Herzon and de Meuron, Chinese architects Ai Wei Wei and Yu Qiu Rong, plus additional commentary by cultural advisor Dr. Uli Sigg, the former Swiss Ambassador to China
Posted by batesbe at 11:44 AM
The World - April 4 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, April 4, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Jia Zhangke; China, 2005, 139 minutes (Mandarin and Shanxi dialect with English subtitles)
In this acclaimed narrative feature, Chinese director Jia Zhangke (Platform, Unknown Pleasures) casts a compassionate eye on the daily loves, friendships and desperate dreams of the twenty-something-year-olds from China’s remote provinces who come to live and work at Beijing’s World Park.
Posted by batesbe at 11:42 AM
Manufactured Landscapes - April 18 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Jennifer Baichwal; Canada, 2007; 90 minutes (English and Chinese with English subtitles)
A striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet.
Posted by batesbe at 11:38 AM
August 28, 2008
Dance with Farm Workers - November 22 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, November 22
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Wu Wenguang and Su Ming; China, 2001; 57 minutes (Mandarin with English subtitles)
Verite documentarist Wu Wenguang records an unconventional dance performance project entitled "Dance with Farm Workers."
Initiated and organzied by choreographer Wen Hui (the director's wife), along with artists Song Dong and Yun Xiuzhen and staged in a former textile factory, ten actors and dancers are brought together with thirty farm workers who came from poor regions of Sichuan Province to work on construction sites in Beijing. Drawn to this dance project by the promise of 30 yuan a day for their efforts, the laborers later discover that even they have an opportunity to stand center stage and make a statement.
Posted by moyera at 01:57 PM
Shanghai Bride - November 15 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, November 15
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Melanie Ansley and Sam Voutas; 2006, 51 minutes (Mandarin, Shangalese, and English with English subtitles)
How does the average man find a wife in materialistic Shanghai? There are two single males to every single female and the women are increasingly picky and middle-class.
The effects of the one-child policy combined with a rapid revolution in China's values and lifestyles, have created increasingly selective middle-class Shanghai women. For working class men, finding a wife is a quest that requires money, time, and the strength to withstand countless disappointments.
Shanghai Bride is a rare portrait of ordinary people in an extraordinary social predicament, a window on the cut-throat nature of Shanghai's marriage market.
Posted by moyera at 01:33 PM
Last House Standing - November 8 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, November 8
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Chao Gan and Zi Liang; China, 2005; 54 minutes (English and Chinese with English subtitles)
As China continues its unprecedented economic growth, this documentary captures the poignant story of an elderly man caught between his country's past and future.
In Shanghai, yet another district is scheduled for demolition and redevelopment. The residents have all been relocated except for one. The owner of an old mansion, Mr. Jiang steadfastly refuses to leave. Mr. Jiang was born in this house and has watched the history of Shanghai unfold from its balcony.
Vividly depicting the relationship between an individual and a changing society, this is an intimate appreciation of the vast changes sweeping through China today.
Posted by moyera at 09:30 AM
No Sex, No Violence, No News: The Battle to Control China's Airwaves - November 1 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, November 1
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Sharon Connolly, Susan Lambert and Stefan Moore for Film Aulstralia; 2002; 55 minutes (English and Chinese with English subtitles)
This unique film examines the battle raging to control China's airwaves. Working with a government that allows nothing of social or political import to be broadcast, entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia bring their full complement of consumerism and mindless entertainment to the millions of Chinese greedy for a glimpse of the outside world.
Prof. Leonard Chu of Hong Kong Baptist University sees the arrival of television to the villages of China as a positive development, even with its limited programming. He applauds the new openness, providing a "window on the world."
On the other hand, we hear from the director of Shanghai Communications whose only interest is in selling. He sees television solely as a tool for promoting Chinese products in their developing market.
Gary Darcy, CEO of Murcoch's Star Network describes how BBC News was cancelled from the schedule because the Chinese government would never allow a newscast from abroad.
Dr. Geremie Barme, a widely respected observer of Chinese society says, "Chinese television is a negation of the social contract which provided free educations, pensions, and social services to the people and peasants. Instead the self sacrificing citizen of the past is being turned into a consumer."
Posted by moyera at 09:22 AM
August 27, 2008
Red Capitalism: China's Economic Revolution - Oct. 25 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, October 25
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1995; 57 minutes (English and Chinese with English subtitles)
An economic revolution is turning China into the world's largest economy. The birthplace of Chinese capitalism is Shenzhen which has exploded from a farming village to an industrial center of 3 million people.
This film shows how Western corporations are moving factories to Shenzhen to profit from cheap labor and join one of the world's largest consumer markets. Currently there are 58,000 joint venture corporation - from Proctor & Gamble to Volkswagen - for an annual economic growth of ten percent.
So desirable is it to work in Shenzhen that the city must be patrolled to keep out the teeming hopefuls. Scientists are working as clerks, and teachers on assembly lines because they earn more doing menial work here.
This Mecca of free enterprise has its seamy side as crime and prostitution abound. Yet, from Avon salesladies to manic millionaires, its inhabitants exhibit boundless enthusiasm for the future.
Posted by moyera at 04:54 PM
China Blue - October 11 at 7 pm
The film showing is FREE and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, October 11
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
Directed by Micha X. Peled; China, 2005; 88 minutes (in English and Chinese with English subtitles)
Like no other film before, China Blue is a powerful and poignant journey into the harsh world of sweatshop workers.
Shot clandestinely, this is a deep-access account of what both China and the international retailers don't want us to see: how the clothes we buy are actually made. Following a pair of denim jeans from birth to sale, China Blue links the power of the U.S. consumer market to the daily lives of a Chinese factory owner and two teenaged female factory workers.
Filmed both in the factory and in the workers' faraway village, this documentary provides a rare, human glimpse at China's rapid transformation into a free market society.
"China Blue is more than an exercise in cinematic activism...the film develops a natural dramatic structure that's profoundly affecting. Mr. Peled doesn't just record the girl's indiginities, he listens to their dreams...China Blue examines the polight of the world's largest pool of cheap labor and traces its exploitation to a retail outlet near you." THE NEW YORK TIMES
Posted by moyera at 04:44 PM
Care and Love - October 4 at 7 pm
During Fall Term 2008, the U-M Center for Chinese Studies will be presenting a series of contemporary documentary films on China.
The series is FREE and open to the public.
All are welcome to attend.
Date: Saturday, October 4
Time: 7 pm
Place: Angell Hall, Auditorium A
(enter via glass doors at fishbowl, off diag)
A film by Ai Xiaoming; China, 2007; 108 minutes (in Mandarin with English subtitles)
Care and Love draws its inspiration from 'Investigation of AIDS in Xingtai, an article by Wang Keqin, senior journalist of China Economic Times.
The documentary tells the story of Liu Xianhong, a villager who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion during childbirth, and how she publicized her story, filed a lawsuit with her 8-year-old son against the hospital, and eventually received compensation.
The bitter experiences of several families, and the collective effort by people living with HIV to defend their rights, resulted in the 'Care Group' and the growing awareness of the possibility for grassroots efforts in the countryside to lead to real social change.
Film trailer:
Posted by moyera at 03:45 PM