Screen Time: North Korean Football & Hong Kong Makes a Comeback

There’s a bunch of great screenings of hard-to-see films around town over the next week, including a North Korean football film and a controversial new feature about the death penalty.

First up, UCCA’s Zhang Yuan retrospective winds up over the weekend with screenings of two early features that were crucial in the launch of China’s “Sixth Generation” of filmmakers. At 7pm on Saturday (April 10) they have Zhang’s Beijing Bastards (1993), one of the first mainland features made entirely outside the official production channels. Among others the film stars the “godfather” of Chinese rock, Cui Jian. At 7pm, on Sunday, April 11, UCCA concludes their program with The Square (1994) a documentary detailing a day in the life of China’s most (in)famous public space. The films are subtitled in English and tickets to both screenings are RMB 15/10 (students).

For a couple of stories from our neighbors over in the reclusive DPRK, check out Koryo Tours' North Korean double bill at 7pm next Tuesday (April 13) at the Bookworm. The first film, Centre Forward is a 1978 DPRK production described as “a strong story of overcoming athletic adversity.” The second is Game of Their Lives, one of a series of award-winning documentaries about North Korea made by the Koryo team. This one tells the story of the 1966 DPRK World Cup football team, who shocked the world by eliminating Italy and making it to the finals. You can read a BBC interview with the director Daniel Gordon here. Tickets of RMB 30/20 (Bookworm members).

On Sunday (April 11), BC MOMA screens a subtitled version of Liu Jie’s Judge, which was at the Venice Film Festival last year, as well as appearing at the recent Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). The film looks like it touches on some particularly sensitive topics, including the death penalty and organ “donations” by prisoners. Sunday’s screening is at 7.30pm and features a Q&A with the director. If you miss out on that, there are several more screenings between Sunday and April 25 – see here for the schedule.

Speaking of HKIFF, fans of Hong Kong cinema should be happy following a strong showing from the local industry at this year’s event, which wound up on Tuesday (April 6). After experiencing a tough decade since the handover, with money and talent moving to the mainland and increasing censorship restraints imposed by Beijing, there are strong signs the Hong Kong industry is making a comeback, with a suite of strong local productions unveiled at this year’s HKIFF. You can read an article from HK Magazine about the local industry’s resurgence and the titles at HKIFF here.

The Hong Kong Film Festival’s opener, Crossing Hennessy, a good-natured drama starring mainland actress and Lust, Caution star Tang Wei, has already made it to Beijing and is playing both at BC MOMA and Megabox in the village. The bad news is the film is only subtitled in Chinese (the dialogue is in Cantonese).

Another strong contender from the festival, Echoes of the Rainbow, is due for release in Beijing mid-April. The nostalgic look at 60s Hong Kong by Alex Law won the Crystal Bear at last year’s Berlin Film Festival – you can read a short interview with Law here.