Chinese cinema is a layered world waiting to be explored and discovered, particularly in its more “independent” sphere. The term “Chinese independent cinema” refers to a new wave movement in film that emerged in China during the late 1990s and early 2000s. During this time, an increasing number of independent filmmakers began creating films outside of the state-controlled film industry. Since then, directors have been venturing into themes and styles that deviate from mainstream narratives, with a primary focus on the experiences and struggles of ordinary people. Chinese independent cinema has made a significant impact both domestically and internationally by offering alternative perspectives and narratives that often delve into social, political, and cultural issues in contemporary China. This list aims to present five essential works of the Chinese independent film movement from the 1990s that you absolutely shouldn't miss.
5. Mama
Considered the very first Chinese independent work, this low-budget black...
5. Mama
Considered the very first Chinese independent work, this low-budget black...
- 7/15/2023
- by Siria Falleroni
- AsianMoviePulse
After a hiatus where New York’s theaters closed during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings are taking place.
Film at Lincoln Center
Jia Zhangke’s Xiao Wu plays through the weekend, while Raúl Ruiz’s The Tango of the Widower screens this Saturday.
Museum of the Moving Image
2001 plays on Sunday.
Film Forum
The huge Humphrey Bogart series continues, still stacked with great films, as do La Piscine and Blue Collar.
IFC Center
World of Wong Kar-wai has been extended, while Miyazaki’s debut Lupin the 3rd begins its run.
Roxy Cinema
The natural pairing of L’Avventura and Body Double run this weekend.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Raúl Ruiz, The Big Sleep, L'Avventura & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
Film at Lincoln Center
Jia Zhangke’s Xiao Wu plays through the weekend, while Raúl Ruiz’s The Tango of the Widower screens this Saturday.
Museum of the Moving Image
2001 plays on Sunday.
Film Forum
The huge Humphrey Bogart series continues, still stacked with great films, as do La Piscine and Blue Collar.
IFC Center
World of Wong Kar-wai has been extended, while Miyazaki’s debut Lupin the 3rd begins its run.
Roxy Cinema
The natural pairing of L’Avventura and Body Double run this weekend.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Raúl Ruiz, The Big Sleep, L'Avventura & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 7/29/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Thanks to Jia Zhangke's new film, we will probably get an updated statement, for today, about the tricky matter that Jacques Rivette once closed while discussing Mizoguchi's cinema. The question of understanding (or not) a film's language and its cultural context."What is beyond doubt is that Mizoguchi's art is based on the play of personal genius within the context of a dramatic tradition. But will wanting to approach it in terms of the national culture and to find it above all such great universal values make us any the wiser? That men are men wherever they may be is something we might have predicted; to be surprised by it only tells us something about ourselves." (translation by Liz Heron)If the question stands at the center of Jia's film, the attempted answer may well be larger than China. In this film where Jia's personal filmic geography now includes territories...
- 5/20/2015
- by Marie-Pierre Duhamel
- MUBI
★★★★☆ In 1998, Walter Salles brought Central Station (1998) to the Berlinale and came home with the Golden Bear. It was here that Salles met Jia Zhangke, a then relatively unknown Chinese director premièring his debut film Xiao Wu (1997). Salles, like many others, was enthralled by Jia's singular style and unique brand of social realism. As the cultural landscape has morphed and buckled under the weight of globalisation, films such as The World (2004), Still Life (2006) and most recently A Touch of Sin (2013) have increasingly become one of the few ways to witness the real China. Now, Salles returns to the Berlinale this year to premiere his tribute to the critically revered sixth generation director.
- 2/10/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Jia Zhangke, whose film A Touch of Sin won best screenplay at Cannes, says China must tackle social ills or face more violence
A leading Chinese director has warned the country faces a rising tide of violence unless it tackles its social problems, as he discussed his graphic new film.
While A Touch of Sin's themes of injustice and exploitation are familiar territory for Jia Zhangke, its style is a stark departure from his usual contemplative tone. Critics have described it as "ultra violent" and compared it to Quentin Tarantino's work.
The slight, unassuming 43-year-old said he drew inspiration from morally inflected westerns and martial arts movies. His four tales, which draw on real events, include that of a spa receptionist fighting off a lecherous customer and a miner armed with a gun and intent on revenge against corrupt officials. "I don't admire or worship violence," Jia said. "To...
A leading Chinese director has warned the country faces a rising tide of violence unless it tackles its social problems, as he discussed his graphic new film.
While A Touch of Sin's themes of injustice and exploitation are familiar territory for Jia Zhangke, its style is a stark departure from his usual contemplative tone. Critics have described it as "ultra violent" and compared it to Quentin Tarantino's work.
The slight, unassuming 43-year-old said he drew inspiration from morally inflected westerns and martial arts movies. His four tales, which draw on real events, include that of a spa receptionist fighting off a lecherous customer and a miner armed with a gun and intent on revenge against corrupt officials. "I don't admire or worship violence," Jia said. "To...
- 6/24/2013
- by Tania Branigan
- The Guardian - Film News
Tian Zhu Ding [A Touch Of Sin] (Jia Zhangke, China)
Competition
Many comments will no doubt be made about a "new" trend in Jia Zhangke's cinema. As he himself puts it, Tian zhu ding is a "martial arts film for contemporary China," paying direct homage to director Hu Jinquan (King Hu, as went his name in the West) and nourished by the vision of martial arts films like those of Chang Cheh.
The English title A Touch of Sin is a direct reference to Hu's English title for Xianü (Lady Errant Knight) or Touch of Zen, a 1970 film, selected in Cannes in 1975.*
Murder and weapons have entered Jia's world. But beyond any consideration upon "new" or "renewal," Tian zhu ding appears so strongly rooted in a set of themes, characters and concerns that run through Jia's filmography that its most striking beauties may well be in the consistency and strength of his film world.
Competition
Many comments will no doubt be made about a "new" trend in Jia Zhangke's cinema. As he himself puts it, Tian zhu ding is a "martial arts film for contemporary China," paying direct homage to director Hu Jinquan (King Hu, as went his name in the West) and nourished by the vision of martial arts films like those of Chang Cheh.
The English title A Touch of Sin is a direct reference to Hu's English title for Xianü (Lady Errant Knight) or Touch of Zen, a 1970 film, selected in Cannes in 1975.*
Murder and weapons have entered Jia's world. But beyond any consideration upon "new" or "renewal," Tian zhu ding appears so strongly rooted in a set of themes, characters and concerns that run through Jia's filmography that its most striking beauties may well be in the consistency and strength of his film world.
- 5/16/2013
- by Marie-Pierre Duhamel
- MUBI
★★★★☆ Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke may already be well-known to cineliterate Western audiences for his 2006 film Still Life or, perhaps from his effort two years later, 24 City (2008). A pivotal part of the 'Sixth Generation' of Chinese filmmakers, Zhang-Ke's confrontational films present a more gritty and realistic portrait of his home country than the more mythological works of his forebears. Released this week in a brand new DVD collection by UK distributors Artificial Eye are the director's first three films: Pickpocket (Xiao Wu, 1998); the acclaimed Platform (Zhantai, 2000); and Unknown Pleasures (2002).
Read more »...
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- 11/27/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke will lead the eight edition of the Asian Film Academy (Afa) to be held on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival 2012.
Along with Jia Zhangke as the Dean, the rest of the AFA2012 faculty has been finalized. Director of the Busan Film Commission, Oh Seok-geun (South Korea) will serve as Deputy Dean. Iranian filmmaker and screen writer, Parviz Shahbazi will be Directing Mentor. Esteemed Japanese cinematographer Watanabe Makoto will be the Cinematography Mentor.
Jia Zhangke, celebrated for his unique style, launched his international career at the Busan International Film Festival. His first feature film “Xiao Wu” (1997) won the New Currents Award at the 3rd Busan International Film Festival followed by the Golden Montgolfiere at the 20th Nantes Three Continents Festival and the Dragons & Tigers Award for Young East Asian Cinema at the 17th Vancouver International Film Festival. His second feature “Platform” (2000) realized through the Pusan Promotion Plan (Ppp,...
Along with Jia Zhangke as the Dean, the rest of the AFA2012 faculty has been finalized. Director of the Busan Film Commission, Oh Seok-geun (South Korea) will serve as Deputy Dean. Iranian filmmaker and screen writer, Parviz Shahbazi will be Directing Mentor. Esteemed Japanese cinematographer Watanabe Makoto will be the Cinematography Mentor.
Jia Zhangke, celebrated for his unique style, launched his international career at the Busan International Film Festival. His first feature film “Xiao Wu” (1997) won the New Currents Award at the 3rd Busan International Film Festival followed by the Golden Montgolfiere at the 20th Nantes Three Continents Festival and the Dragons & Tigers Award for Young East Asian Cinema at the 17th Vancouver International Film Festival. His second feature “Platform” (2000) realized through the Pusan Promotion Plan (Ppp,...
- 6/19/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
For Tsai Ming-liang, emotion is skin-deep. No other working filmmaker is more sharply attuned to how raw, mundane feeling—feeling before it has been made compelling by drama or comprehensible by psychology—is undergone within the body and then hidden on its surface. The stupor induced by a long fit of crying, the half-bored mindlessness of bad sex, the feeling of one’s face on the pillow or one’s bare ass on the cold toilet seat: Tsai magnifies these semi-conscious fumblings and renders them lucid. His focus on minimally expressive figures making their way through a series of urban landscapes may owe a debt to Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati, but his style also distinguishes itself through an elevation of bodily embarrassment, its location of all that fleshy palpability onscreen within moments of non-being and self-forgetting.
So airtight has this style been at times that it’s easy to...
So airtight has this style been at times that it’s easy to...
- 12/6/2011
- MUBI
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