Tibet In Harlem 2

From the Maysles Institute website:

TIBET IN HARLEM 2: ORIGINS March 14–20, 2010
Presented by the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University, Maysles Cinema, Machik and the Kham Film Project.
Series Programmers: Robert Barnett, Lynn True, Nelson Walker.

“A remarkable renaissance has been quietly taking place within Tibet, almost completely unknown to the outside world: a group of largely self-taught Tibetan intellectuals and artists have suddenly emerged who are making films about Tibetans and Tibetan life. In the last five years, these directors, each of them working alone and without state support, have found new ways to show Tibetan culture and life on screen. Their filmic visions are nothing like those made in the west or in China. Led by the works of Padma Tseten, which stand in their own right as major films by any standard, this festival showcases the early works of some of these filmmakers as they search for new ways of talking about being Tibetan.”

- Robert Barnett, Director, Modern Tibetan Studies Program, Columbia University

Tibet in Harlem 2: Origins is the second annual series of Tibetan and Tibet-related films at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem. This year’s program showcases a collection of rarely screened early films – both documentary and fiction – by some of the most important Tibetan and Chinese filmmakers working in Tibet today.

Full description and schedule after the break.

In conjunction with Tibet in Harlem the Maysles Cinema will also present an exclusive Spotlight on Emerging Filmmakers. This special program, taking place March 22nd – 23rd, will showcase short films and works-in-progress by young Tibetan filmmakers currently living in France, India, Canada, and the United States.

Suggested Admission to all events: $12. Proceeds from each event will be contributed to NGOs and organizations working inside Tibet, including Rabsal, the Tibet Village Project and Machik.

Supported by: the Henry Luce Foundation, The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and other organizations.

Sunday, Mar. 14, 7:00 pm

Prince of the Himalayas
Dir. Sherwood Hu, 2006, 108 min., Director’s first feature on Tibet.
Tibetan with English subtitles.

Setting Hamlet in a completely new context in early Tibetan history, Prince of the Himalayas is a visually ravishing historical epic that is richly suggestive of the enduring relevance of Shakespeare’s tragedy for the modern world and the most successful example so far of artistic cooperation between a Chinese director and Tibetan writers (Dorje Tsering Chenaktshang and Tashi Dawa).
Opening night reception to follow

Monday, Mar. 15, 7:30 pm

16 Barkor South Street
Dir. Duan Jinchuan, 1996, 100 min.
Tibetan and Chinese with English subtitles.

No.16, Barkor Street is an old courtyard in the heart of Lhasa and the site of the office of the Barkor Neighborhood Committee. This masterful cinema verité documentary, the landmark work in the history of independent documentaries about Tibet, is a photographic study of the basic workings of government in Tibet that follows the local Party Secretary, Deputy Director, Director for Women’s Affairs, and Community Policeman, among others, as they implement official policies and manage neighborhood affairs.

Tuesday, Mar. 16 7:30 pm

Tantric Yogi
Dir. Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang 2007, 27 min., Director’s first documentary.
Tibetan with English subtitles.

This documentary follows a Yogi and his fellow villagers as they travel through challenging territory to reach a rare gathering of thousands of lay tantric practitioners in Eastern Tibet. Narrated by Jim Broadbent.

Ani Lhacham
Dir. Dorje Tsering Chenaktshang, 2005, 50 min.Tibetan with English subtitles.

When she was a child, Lhacham was eager to learn how to read and write. For economic reasons, her parents thought otherwise. She decided to run away to a nunnery in order to receive the education she was dreaming of. Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang follows her during a trip to the nearby town to get her tape recorder fixed. This recorder is her knowledge tool which she uses to learn Tibetan. The film is a tender and poetic portrait of Lhacham’s first journey into town.

Wednesday, Mar. 17 7:30 pm

The Silent Holy Stones
Dir. Padma Tseten, 2005, 102 min., Director’s first feature.
Tibetan with English subtitles.

The debut feature from the preeminent Tibetan filmmaker working today. The Silent Holy Stones is a restrained, unhurried story of a 10-year old Tibetan monk who has the chance to spend a few days at New Year with his family in their village a day’s horse-ride away. The boy’s journey to his village and back to the monastery bring to light the intertwined forces of westernization and consumerism that are a powerful presence even in a small Tibetan farming community.

Followed by Q & A with filmmaker Padma Tseten

Thursday, Mar. 18 7:30 pm

Milarepa
Dir. Sonam, 2006, 95 min., Director’s first film.
Tibetan with English subtitles.

A delightfully personal rendering of the story of Tibet’s best known and most respected yogi-poet, Milarepa, made by a self-taught director who wrote, lit, set and edited the entire film himself, using amateur actors in a remote Tibetan village. As a young man, Milarepa uses sorcery to murder his aunt and uncle who have stolen his family’s fortune. Later he regrets his actions and seeks out a famous lama, who submits his student to years of hardship before complete understanding can be achieved.

Friday, Mar. 19 7:30 pm

The Grassland
Dir. Padma Tseten, 2004, 22 min. Director’s first film.
Tibetan with English subtitles.

When an elderly woman’s yak goes missing, her husband is sure he knows who the culprits are, but the woman is more concerned about avoiding further suffering for the suspects. A careful and moving study of different views of resolving conflict in a nomadic community.

The Girl Lhari
Dir. Rigdan Gyatso 2005, 25 min. Director’s first work.
Tibetan with English subtitles.

Lhari is a young bride sent to a country village to live with her in-laws, who increasingly use her as a servant and even lock her out at night, with her husband not daring to intervene. Lhari decides to find her own, quintessentially Tibetan solution to her situation.

Followed by panel discussion with both filmmakers, Padma Tseten and Rigdan Gyatso, and a reception.

Saturday, Mar. 20 7:30 pm

The Search
Dir. Padma Tseten, 2009, 112 min., Director’s second feature film.
Tibetan with English subtitles.

A Tibetan film director travels from village to village across the country looking for an actor and an actress to star in his next film. He hears talk of people with the skills he needs, but they always seem to have just left or living somewhere else, as if he’s come too late. The Search is a road movie exploring a disappearing culture, taking the viewer straight into the heart of contemporary Tibet. This elegant film recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and is the first ever to be shot entirely in Tibet in the Tibetan language by a local crew.

Q&A with filmmaker and closing night reception to follow.

***Spotlight on Emerging Filmmakers*** March 22–23, 2010
A showcase of short films and works-in-progress by young Tibetan filmmakers currently living in France, India, Canada, and the United States.

Monday, Mar. 22 7:30 pm

Short Film Showcase

Miss Taken
Dir. Thupten Chakrishar, 2009, 6 min.

An experimental composition of site-specific vignettes based in Western Tibet’s remote Mount Kailash region, the source of Tibet’s Four Rivers.

History of Momos
Dir. Tsenzin Tsetan Choklay, 2007, 11 min.

A Tibetan man living alone in Seoul, Korea remembers his real home far away in the Himalayas. With no friends and family around in this new city, food connects him to his past and his people.

Dramgnyen: The Lute
Dir. Tashi Eugyal, 13 min.

A Tibetan immigrant family attempts to adjust to life in a new western society. As trained musicians, the parents are unable to secure “good” jobs in their new home. Kelsang, their only daughter, happens to be a musical prodigy herself. Her father disapproves of her choice.

Seeds
Dir. Tenzin Dazel, 2009, 28 min.

Beautiful black and white 8mm film captures a day in the life of a group of young Tibetans in New Delhi — mostly call center workers and college students — as they navigate the challenges of the day, looming pressures of tomorrow and haunting echoes of years past.

Panel discussion with filmmakers and actors to follow

Tuesday, Mar. 23 7:30 pm

Four Rivers
Dir. Tenzin Phuntsog, Unit Director Anders Uhl, 2010, 127 min.

**Special work in progress screening**
An experimental composition of site-specific vignettes based in Western Tibet’s remote Mount Kailash region, the source of Tibet’s Four Rivers.
Followed by Q&A with filmmakers

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Fujian Blue (dir. Robin Weng)

The value of Asia Society’s series China’s Past Present, Future on Film… is that it exposes us to a diverse group of lesser-known artists at a time when much of the discussion of contemporary Chinese cinema still revolves around big names like Jia Zhangke.

Andrew Chan reviews several of the titles playing at the Asia Society series, giving special mention to Robin Weng’s Fujian Blue.

Read the full article.

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Cui Zi'en, director of Queer China, Comrade China, speaks at the Apple store in Beijing. (Photo: Robert Douglas)

Following up on our recent “Meet the Filmmakers” series at the Apple Store in Sanlitun, Beijing, here are a couple of links to local coverage of the events.

At The Beijinger, Dan Edwards talks to Karin Chien about the Apple Store events and China’s digital filmmaking revolution.

At the Global Times, Robert Powers reports on Apple Store appearances made by filmmakers Jian Yi and Cui Zi’en.

We’re pleased to announce that the “Meet the Filmmakers” series will continue with other filmmakers appearing at the Apple Store Sanlitun over the coming months. Stay tuned for details.

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Translation by Yuqian Yan

IV. New Theaters

Another aspect of capital operation is the development of new theaters and their surroundings. A significant trend is that after international capital was fully withdrawn from China due to policy reasons, the newly raised major players are all domestic partnerships.

Megabox Sanlitun Theater, Beijing

Withdrawn capital is mainly from the States and Europe, but those from Hong Kong or Korea are allowed to stay. Even though according to government policy, Hong Kong and Korean capital can only account for a small proportion, their existence allows theaters to maintain their original status as international chain brands. For example, the new theater built in the middle of Sanlitun, Beijing uses a Korean theater brand. One reason is that Hong Kong and Korean investors sometimes agree to disguise international capital under the name of domestic capital through an intermediary, whereas European and American investors always hesitate to make such a suspicious deal. For instance, Warner has stopped expanding its business in China for years. But European and American giants are just waiting for new policies that will offer better opportunities. In the long run, more than half of the Chinese theaters will be controlled by American capital in the future.

Most domestic giants are tightly integrated with the reals state industry. Most noticeable is Wanda’s general success. They manage to cover almost all the new development zones which didn’t exist in the formal cultural map of China. In big cities, these development zones have hundreds of thousands population. Moreover, the residents are mainly young, white-collars, (Blue-collars don’t buy houses. Mid-age white-collars tend to choose better developed neighborhood, and they don’t go to cinema.) such as the North District in Kunming.

Broadway Cinematheque MOMA, Beijing

Another remarkable theater development is the establishment of the Film Culture Center (Broadway Cinematheque MOMA) by Anle on the second ring road of Beijing. This is an isolated incident and its uniqueness is worth careful analysis and expectation.

Some theater businessmen study the mode of film history again and again, and hope to apply it to their own cinema, but it is too difficult to realize in practice. Moreover, commercial blockbusters are still profitable at the moment (the payback period for new theaters is about 3 years, hardware deprecation is about 7 to 8 years, real estate contracts last about 10 years in general). There’s no need for business to take the risk to start a new path.

But since theaters have such high returns, and the ready-made experience is so attractive, investment in theaters are expected to continue to increase. How much is the room for growth? It depends on the community on the one hand, and programing on the other hand. Because of the shortage of theaters in the past 20 years, and the commercial operation mode for blockbusters in the past 10 years, investors and audiences have forgotten about the lack of programs. American blockbusters saturated the market several years ago, which widened the gap between blockbusters shown in China. Now there are only two or three super blockbusters each year. I’m afraid that domestic blockbusters will also reach its saturation sometime in the future. By that time, we merely have two or three films a year in a real sense.

The scarcity of programming, in my own anticipation, will result a considerable percentage of empty seats in new cinemas in three years. This percentage will reach an unacceptable peak in five or six years, and the development will start to reverse, such as converting cinemas into billiard halls.

Art cinema, which has been criticized as impossible to form, will be realized independent from the will of scholars and intellectuals, but on the reality of the high rate of empty cinema seats. Some cinemas will have to depend on blockbusters to make money, others will rely on cultural activities and artworks to survive. The relation between the two will probably be balanced and harmonious by the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Republic, if we can keep on developing “normally” in the next ten years.

Contemporary art has passed the Old Summer Palace period and is now in the 798 period. The polarization within the film industry means that film as entertainment can appear in the cheapest form, such as in parodies of big movies, or in the most expansive form. So it is very abnormal for film as culture or art to be always in the low-end state.

Anle’s Film Cultural Centre that started to operate this year would probably contribute to the elevation of film as an art form. Perhaps it’s just a beginning; perhaps policy and other investors would follow up in three or five years. Hopefully Anle’s experiment will survive until that point.

V. Ten Years of Independence

Spring Fever (dir. Lou Ye)

Among different ways of counting independent films, if we see the grassroots video movement as its starting point, this is exactly its tenth year of existence. That is to say it is not the same age as the Republic, but the same age as the new century.

How can I describe to you those films that you’ve never seen, my dear audience?

Our cultural map is the same as our elections. It’s a 99% vs. 1% relationship. How can I explain that this 1% is not self-marginalized?

So as a writer, what I should do is to arouse your curiosity. That’s all I can do. If you are interested, you can find details online. As for the must-see works, you can watch them at different independent film festivals. If you don’t want to travel beyond your own city, please wait for the travelling shows to arrive in your place.

I personally consider them to be among the best part of contemporary Chinese culture, and the only valuable thing in Chinese cinema.

I’ll list three narrative films and three documentaries here, as well as three informational websites.

Spring Fever, dir. Lou Ye: He loves her loves him loves her loves him …
Bride, dir. Zhang Ming: An old cow eating tender grass (i.e. old man marries a young woman).
Good Cats, dir. Ying Liang: Catching mice can make you rich.
Petition, dir. Zhao Liang: Hasn’t the asylum policy been canceled?
Wheat Harvest, dir. Xu Tong: About a goddess.
Buried, dir. Wang Libo: About the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake

www.fanhall.cn
www.yunfest.org
www.chinaiff.org

Zhang Xianmin
December 20, 2009

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Translation by Yuqian Yan

II. Long Live Capital: Non-stop Financing

Red Cliff (dir. John Woo)

The highest level of capital operations, where form and power converge, is to stack stars. The strategy is to stretch the shooting period so that new capital can be accumulated throughout the entire shooting and post-production period, new stars can keep on joining the film during the entire shooting period, the film can be revised over and over again to satisfy new investors, and new plotlines can be added to accommodate newly joined starts. Red Cliff is the first film that is close to this strategy. Its shooting period was so long that they had to make the film into two parts otherwise there would be no chance to make any money. But the version released in the States only has one part.

In 2009, apart from Founding of the Republic, another prominent example of commercial blockbusters using such open strategy during production is Bodyguards and Assassins. Even after the shooting was started, it continued to attract huge capital and film starts from Hong Kong and Taiwan. This is the third stage of financing.

The first stage is that traditionally one film only has one definite copyright owner. The second stage is comprehensive financing, but the ownership has already been divided before the shooting starts. We are now on the third stage, where ownership division and profit share probably will not be determined until distribution.

This requires skill to pull off, and certainly increases the instability of work, the so-called “experiencing the excitement of one’s heartbeat.” Last year, audiences didn’t like John Woo’s film to be released in two parts, so this year, I assume that Peter Chan won’t take the risk to endlessly extend the shooting period or frequently change the plan for Bodyguards and Assassins. Some mainland Chinese TV institute invested huge money in the film. Audiences can count how many starts appear for only several seconds.

III. To be Listed on the Market

Another high-end of capital operation is the listing of Huayi Brothers Media Group on the market. Although the company’s performance hasn’t been very stable since the listing, it temporarily revitalized the capital market. Businessmen from Zhejiang who were formally turned down by the coal market in Shanxi seem to enjoy spreading the news of Huayi’s performance more than making a fortune themselves. It’s rather similar to the situation in 2008 when a cultural company in Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province) organized coal mine owners to massively purchase art works from the 798 art district in Beijing for cultural purposes.

Private investment in film production can also be roughly divided into three steps. The first step was the participation of local brands or enterprises through advertising, such as water pipe commercials for gunfighting films, Hainan real estate investment commercials for art films set on the beach. This also marked the beginning of the collapse of the big studio system. The phase when private investors insisted on their status as the exclusive copyright owner of films ended in 1995. Nowadays, no one does that any more except for the purpose of promoting an actress, and these kind of investors typically retire after their first film.

The second step is seeking cooperation. Everyone, including CEPA, is talking about overseas financing. The prevalence of overseas capital and money-laundering means that capital will follow abroad before it circles back. This kind of investor normally makes two to four films. The first one might be a small production, just to see how deep the water is. Once they get enough investment to test the water, they’ll cautiously assess the chance of losing money. This phase is still going on. This is a process of transforming hot money into calm decisions.

The third step appears to be the combination of “Confucian merchants” and “MBAs”. Financial experts rich in cultural capital enjoy great popularity these days. Although counterfeit experts are unavoidable, there are also real MBAs, or PhDs from the States, or intellectuals from the 80s. These people intend to work in the industry for ten years or half of their life, and aim to accumulate as least twenty, or even fifty film titles with their name listed as partial copyright owners.

The landmark event of two years ago was the super-entrepreneur Dong Ping’s transfer of his entire assets and withdrawal from the film industry. This year’s climax is Huayi’s listing on the market.

There are two obvious psychological effects about the listing.

Ning Hao (director of Crazy Stone)

The first is to buy at a cheap price. Everyone is looking for rising box office stars like Ning Hao. Typical traditional investors are still expecting him to make a profitable film. Others reply on such contract and copyrights to raise the price tag for shares or asset transfers. What investors are discussing this year is that such people can make the profit ratio curve of their company’s annual report look more pleasing than a beach girl.

Secondly, many people, including those investors who were cheated through money laundering, start to consider film as something that can make them a shareholder. Meanwhile, financial and private investors are interested in investing in several major film companies, comparable to buying shares at a high price.

Such beliefs by investors mark an end to primitive methods of capital accumulation in the film industry. It has been twenty years, a whole generation, since the late ’80s when private capital first entered the Chinese film industry, which means that in several years, the red third generation and rich second generation will have a greater say in film. Nowadays, if a loser still has a pair of pants left, there’s no complete victory for the winner. On the other hand, even the poor won’t be satisfied if the winner does not defeat others completely. Take a look at which film has the longest queue, and you’ll know what I mean.

Tomorrow, Part Three: New Theaters vs. The New Grassroots Movement

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Ghost Town (dir. Zhao Dayong)

Following its triumphant US Premiere at the 2009 New York Film Festival, Zhao Dayong’s Ghost Town will enjoy a weeklong run at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The MoMA will screen Ghost Town at the following dates:

• Monday, March 15, 2010, 3 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 4 p.m.
• Thursday, March 18, 2010, 7 p.m.
• Friday, March 19, 2010, 3:30 p.m.
• Saturday, March 20, 2010, 4 p.m.
• Sunday, March 21, 2010, 12:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at the MoMA Film Box Office adjacent to the The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY. Details at the MoMA site.

Further details and trailer after the break.

Zhao’s tremendously rewarding film illuminates the alienation and marginalization of the denizens of one of China’s countless remote villages. Divided into three parts, this epic documentary takes an intimate look at its varied cast of characters, bringing audiences face to face with people who were unceremoniously left behind by China’s new economy. Zhao displays great compassion and respect for the squatters and other inhabitants of the village, and he patiently teases out the special places and attachments to which they cling. Cleverly structured and beautifully shot, the film is a gratifying, if ultimately heartbreaking, testimonial to the talent and commitment of China’s vanguard independent documentary movement.

• Description from the MoMA program
• Ghost Town page at dGenerate Films
• Reviews of Ghost Town from the New York Film Festival
• Interview with director Zhao Dayong
• Interview with producer David Bandurski

Trailer:

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Translation by Yuqian Yan

Hail! Hail! Hail! The State of Chinese Cinema in 2009

I. Long Live the Motherland

The Founding of a Republic (dir. Han Sanping)

The Founding of the Republic reflects many demands of the film industry beyond film itself, and it has all but achieved these goals.

First of all, it reveals a reality that is shared by many other fields and industries. In the past several years, resources have been accumulated and controlled by several state-owned, monopolistic enterprises. This is a common phenomenon in the economy.

In the world of culture, different kinds of people collaborated on the one blockbuster film of 2009. For the 60th anniversary of the founding of People’s Republic of China, this blockbuster was eventually taken over from big-name directors by the presidents of state-owned enterprises. It’s almost like the chief director of China Central TV directing the Spring Festival Gala. The only distinction of this year is that in the past fifteen years, imported blockbusters were the nightmare of Chinese films every month; in the past five years, the domestic film market was dominated by three Chinese blockbusters every year. In 2007 and 2008, domestic blockbusters such as Lust, Caution, Assembly and Warlords all had difficulties in production or in passing the censors. Luckily, there is only one domestic blockbuster in 2009; others were small productions. Moreover, this film is very safe; the government wouldn’t give the film bureau officials any trouble.

This film fully reflected a truly exceptional marketing plan. Immodestly speaking, we can achieve the American model of integrated marketing. (I don’t say “we, too, can achieve”, because no other country can achieve that. Even American economic newspapers envy us.) A standard American blockbuster takes up about one-fifth of domestic screens when it is first released. But in our country, an American blockbuster takes up three-fifths of theater screens; some domestic blockbusters can take up four-fifths. Like some people commented online, the producer of this film and film bureau officials have fully comprehended Chairman Mao’s strategy and tactics in the War of Liberation (the Chinese Civil War), concentrating superior military forces to fight a large-scale battle of annihilation. Only the security forces in Beijing during National Day are comparable to the protection of the promotion of this film.

There are two other confrontations.

The first is Han Sanping vs. Zhang Yimou. The so-called “59-year-old phenomenon” can also be found in other industries in China. The most influential figures in Chinese cinema are almost the same age as the state. They dream of brilliant success before their upcoming retirement. Mr. Han finally became the only person in the entire Chinese film circle whose popularity and power surpassed Mr. Zhang. The problem is that the pivotal moment of retirement will hugely affect Han; he certainly can’t direct the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Republic. But Zhang can probably continue to work until China next holds the Olympics.

Han Sanming (in Still Life, dir. Jia Zhangke)

Han Sanping (director, The Founding of a Republic)

The other confrontation is Han Sanping vs. Han Sanming. Many readers might not know Han Sanming. He’s an amateur actor who plays the male protagonist in Still Life. The least reliable rumor in the film circle is that Han Sanming is Han Sanping’s brother. The person who made up this rumor is hateful, with absolutely no morality. He positions himself against Han Sanping, as well as Han Sanming, and makes an idiotic judgement on physical looks, personal background and views on film. The author of this article solemnly clarifies here: there’s no kinship between Han Sanping and Han Sanming. Our guessing only reveals our polarized self-judgement: we only have two options, we either become Han Sanping, or become Han Sanming.

Since there will be many other films on the founding of the Republic in the future, I want to remind those individual “main-melody” directors who are not able to attract big investments or film celebrities: you’ll have to come up with other special strategies. My dear readers, don’t assume that I’m making this up. A DV farmer from the south of Shanxi spent more than 50,000 yuan (7,000) dollars out of his own pocket and for over three years made an epic film on the Long March.

Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain (2001, dir. Tsui Hark)

The special strategy, as I predict would be: in five years, these self-funded, original productions on revolutionary themes will incorporate the wuxia conventions of Jin Yong: that is to film Baota Mountain as Hua Mountain, and film Jingang Mountain as Wu Tang Mountain. In ten years, “main-melody” epic propaganda films will follow Tsui Hark’s example: that is, PLA soldiers climbing over the snowy mountains and traveling across the grasslands will be shown in the style of Zu Warriors (dir. Tsui Hark, 2001) where Emei, Kongtong, and Kunlun schools fight and compete with each other, flying in the sky and disappearing into the earth.

Many directors of small-budget “main-melody” films complain about repression and unequal competition, such as the Ye Daying’s Tiananmen Square. For me, that’s just the words of jilted women. Why don’t you sacrifice your individualism to satisfy the collectivism of the China Film Group? The Republic was founded by millions of revolutionary martyrs. This is called “I sacrifice your blood to build a new nation.” (This is adapted from Lu Xun’s famous poem “I sacrifice my blood to build a new nation.)

The Founding of the Republic tells us that as long as power and promotion work together, it’s not a problem to attract celebrities and audiences. For those who watched this film, don’t blame the celebrities as cheap and despicable. If you have seen the film, you are not any better than them.

Tomorrow, Part Two: Long Live Capital: Non-stop Financing and the Market

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dGenerate's Karin Chien Takes Home the Piaget Producers Prize at the Independent Spirit Awards

Tags: ifc, independent spirit awards, karin chien, piaget producers award

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Yang Kun

It is with sadness that we report the passing of Yang Kun, a key curator of Yunfest (Yunnan Multi Culture Visual Festival, one of the key independent film festivals in China. Mr. Yang passed away from leukemia, which was diagnosed only recently.

We at dGenerate have benefitted from Mr. Yang’s fastidious promotion of Chinese independent films, as he and Yunfest helped bring many films to attention that are or will be part of our catalog. The following is a list of films in our catalog that were programmed at Yunfest, some of which made their debut there:

Before the Flood (Yunfest Competition ‘05)
Before the Flood 2: Gong Tan (Yunfest Competition ‘09)
Crime and Punishment (Yunfest Showcase ‘09)
Gai Shanxi and Her Sisters (Yunfest Competition ‘05)
Ghost Town (Yunfest Competition ‘09)
Meishi Street (Yunfest Participatory Visual Education ‘09)

We will forever remain grateful to Yang Kun and his efforts will not be forgotten.

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Event details and ticket information found at MoMA.

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