ASIAN CINEMA

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ASIAN CINEMA

• Eija Niskanen
• University of Helsinki
• Sept 11-Oct 2009

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PRC history

• 1912 Sun Yatsen forms Republic of China
• 1931-45 War against Japan
• 1927-49 Civil war Kuomingtang vs. Maos
  communists 1934 Long March, 1938-45 Mao-Chian
  Kai-shek truce
• 1949 Mao Zedong and the Peoples Liberation Army
  win, Kuomingtang escapes to Taiwan
• 1956 Hundred Flowers movement
• 1957 anti-rightist movement
• 1958 Great Leap Forward
• 1960 China breaks with Soviet Union
• 1966-76 Cultural Revolution
• 1976 Mao dies 1977 Gang of Four overthrown
• 1977 Deng Xiaoping modernization, special
  economic zones, market economy encouraged
• 1989 Tiananmen Square
• 2008 Beijing Olympics

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PRC film

• Shanghai cinema
• 1940s humanist realist cinema
• The Goddess, 1934, dir. Wu Yonggang
• main actress Ruan Ling-yu
• Lianhua Film Studio, Shanghai
• -----
• 1980s Fifth Generation Guangxi Film Studio
• Sixth Generation
• officially banned films
• The China Film Bureu

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Chinese cinema postwar

• Shanghai cinema
• Spring in a Small Town, 1948, dir. Fei Mu
• Wenhua Film Co.
• http//mclc.osu.edu/rc/pubs/spring/default.htm

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PRC cinema 1949-76

• 1. Nationalization 1949-53
• 2. Socialist realism 1954-65
• Nu wei xing yuan/Female pilots, 1966
• New Year's Sacrifice, 1957, dir. Sang Hu
• 3. Cultural Revolution 1966-76 8 model plays

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Chen Kaige

• Yellow Earth, 1984
• King of Children, 1987
• Farewell My Concubine, 1993

King of Children
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Tian Zhuangzhuang

• Horse Thief, 1985 gt
• The Blue Kite, 1993

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Zhang Yimou

• Red Sorghum, 1988
• Ju Dou 1989
• Raise the Red Lantern, 1991
• Story of Qui Ju, 1992
• To Live 1994
• Keep Cool, 1997
• Hero, 2002
• House of Fying Daggers, 2004
• Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, 2005

Gong Li in Ju Dou
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Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
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Sixth generation filmmakers

• Zhang Yang Shower, 1999
• Zhang Yuan Beijing Bastards, 1993
• East Palace West Palace, 1996
• Lou Ye Suzhou River, 2000
• He Jianjun Postman, 1995

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Wang Xiaoshuai

• The Days, 1993
• Frozen, 1996
• So Close to Paradise, 1998
• Beijing Bicycle, 2001
• Shanghai Dreams, 2005

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Jia Zhangke

• Pickpocket, 1997
• Platform, 2000
• Unknown Pleasures, 2002
• The World, 2005

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Other filmmaking in PRC

• Documentaries
• Comedies
• Clip Before the Flood, 2005, dir. Li Yifan Yan
  Yu
• Animation, beg. by the Wan brothers
• Historical co-prod. Films since 2000 (Hero, House
  of Flying Daggers)
• Peacock, 2004, dir. Gu Zhangwei post-5th Gen.?
• Female filmmakers Ning Ying (5th gen.)