UCLA Center for East Asian Studies
Asia
Society Film Series:
Nationhood, History,
and Cinema
April 6-May 11, 2002
April 2002 Asia in SoCal Calendar | May 2002 Calendar | Calendar Index | Search CEAS
Click here for where to send event, performance, or exhibition announcements. Where possible, we provide links to websites of sponsoring organizations or presenters. You may click on such links to visit that site for more information about the event or exhibition. Use your browser's back button to return to the UCLA Center for East Asian Studies website. Click here to get directions to UCLA. Most UCLA lectures are free and open to the public (on-campus parking costs $6). For directions to events elsewhere in Southern California, Yahoo Maps can help.
The Asia Society Southern California Center's second annual film screening and discussion series showcases eight feature length films and documentaries during . The film series seeks to examine the relationships between cinema, history, and nationhood from different geographical locales across Asia; seeks a wide range of socio-cultural, political, economic, and historical perspectives, as viewed through the lens of Asians and Asian Americans; and creates a forum for the exchange of thoughts, experiences, and opinions across cultures. The UCLA Center for East Asian Studies and the USC East Asian Studies Center are coordinating institutions for these events.
For more information about the Asia Society or these screenings, please call (213) 624-0945.
The Opium War
April 6, 2002
1-4:30 pm
Norris 105, University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089 campus
map directions
Directed by Chinese director Xie Jin, The Opium War depicts the set of events leading up to Great Britain's colonization of Hong Kong. Shot on location in China and England, through painstakingly accurate recreations, magnificent costuming, and dramatic sets, this epic film brings to life both the period and places as it recounts this turbulent era in history. Xie Jin, one of China's most venerable directors, will discuss his film and answer questions from the audience. The discussion is chaired by Dr. David James, Professor, Division of Critical Studies, School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California. Seats are limited, please arrive early.
To The Starry Island
April 7, 2002
1-4 pm
Lucas 108, University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089 campus
map directions
Free admission and no registration required.
Acclaimed at the 1994 New York Film Festival, To the Starry Island is one of director Park's most influential works. The film begins in Seoul as an old man makes his dying wish, to be buried at his birthplace on the distant island of Kwisong, to his son and his old friend, a poet. This plan is thwarted when the islanders refuse to let the body come ashore. The poet, also an island son, tries to negotiate with the locals and uncovers a secret past and unhealed wounds from the Korean War. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Kyung Hyun Kim, Assistant Professor, East Asian Language and Literature, UCI. An additional speaker to be announced. Seats are limited, please arrive early.
The Making of the Mahatma
April 13, 2002
1.-4:30 pm
Lecture Hall 151, California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840 (562) 985-4111
Free admission and no registration required.
Based on the book The Apprenticeship of the Mahatma by South African writer Fatima Meer, The Making of the Mahatma explores Mahatma Gandhi's experiments with using non-violence as a radical weapon in the struggle for human rights in colonial South Africa. In addition to focusing on the great leader's humanitarian efforts, the filmmaker also offers a rare chronological look into Gandhi's personal life and the sacrifices of his family. Shot in picturesque locales in South Africa, the film brilliantly portrays the transformation of an ordinary man into a Mahatma (Great Soul). The screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Movindri Reddy, Assistant Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs, Occidental College and Dr. Arnold P. Kaminsky, Professor, Asian Studies and History, California State University, Long Beach. Seats are limited, please arrive early.
Regret to Inform
April 25, 2002
7:30-10 pm
Film and Video Center, University of California, Irvine
214 Humanities Instructional Building Irvine, CA 92697-3535 (949)
824-7418
Admission: $5 for general; $3 for Asia Society members and students with ID.
This Oscar-nominated documentary brings together women who lost loved ones on both sides of the Vietnam conflict long after the tragedy "ended." Their voices, and the many-layered truths of their stories, gently bid viewers to look into the deep and long-lasting effects of war. Xuan Ngoc Nguyen, main character in this film, will discuss her film and the journey in search of the truth with Chor Swang Ngin, Professor, Anthropology, Cal State LA. Seats are limited, please register early with the Asia Society Southern California Center at (213) 624-0945.
Earth
April 27, 2002
7:30-10 pm
Film and Video Center, University of California, Irvine
214 Humanities Instructional Building Irvine, CA 92697-3535 (949) 824-7418
Admission: $5 for general; $3 for Asia Society members and students with ID.
Adapted from Bapsi Sidhwa's semi-autobiographical novel Cracking India, Earth is Deepa Mehta's second film in a trilogy (with Fire and Water). It examines major historical events surrounding the Partition in 1947 of India through the eyes of an eight-year-old girl, the pampered daughter of an affluent Parsi family in Lahore. The film depicts the destructive religious and civil wars that took place in India and Pakistan to gain independence from the British. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Karen Leonard, Professor, Anthropology, UC Irvine. An additional speaker to be announced. Seats are limited, please register early with the Asia Society Southern California Center at (213) 624-0945.
Red River Valley
May 4, 2002
2-5 pm
Mark Taper Auditorium, Los Angeles Public Library
630 W. Fifth Street Los Angeles, California 90071 map
(213) 228-7000
Free admission and no registration required.
This film is a Chinese perspective on Tibetan suffering. Set in the snow-capped mountains of Tibet, this action/adventure tale blends into a brilliant historic epic that pits a young Tibetan man and woman against the British colonial policy. In 1900, at the height of European conquest of Africa and Asia, Britain first sent a small civilian expedition and then in 1904 sent a conquering army into Tibet ostensibly for the purposes of bringing British civilization and its benefits to the backward Tibetans. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Nancy Levine, Professor, Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles and Dr. Stanley Rosen, Professor, Political Science, University of Southern California. Seats are limited, please arrive early.
Citizen Hong Kong
May 5, 2002
2-4 pm
The Museum of Contemporary Art
Free admission and no registration required.
San Francisco filmmaker Ruby Yang returns to her childhood home to see how it will reconcile a British past with a Chinese future. A candid portrayal and poetic tribute to Hong Kong and its citizens, this documentary chronicles the 1997 handover to China through the eyes of four Hong Kong residents who worked with the filmmaker as video diarists. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Ruby Yang's husband Lambert Yam, Producer, Esther Yau, Associate Professor, Art History and Visual Art, Occidental College, and Brice Reynaud, Faculty, School of Film/Video, California Institute of Arts. Seats are limited, please arrive early.
When You're Smiling: The Deadly Legacy of Internment
May 11, 2002
1- 3 pm
Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street, Los Angeles, California 90012 map
(213) 625-0414
Free admission and no registration required.
This autobiographical documentary explores the dark side of life for working-class Japanese Americans living in racially mixed South Central Los Angeles in the 1960's and 1970's. The film offers the first comprehensive account of the price subsequent generations paid for the denial of ethnic identity in the aftermath of Japanese-American internment during World War II. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director Janice D. Tanaka. She will be joined by Dr. Lon Kurashige, Professor, History, USC, and John Esaki, Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum to answer questions from the audience. Seats are limited, please arrive early.
Sponsored by the Asia Society Southern California Center. For further information, telephone (213) 624-0945.
Where to send announcements:
Please send announcements of East Asia-related events, performances, and exhibitions to
Clayton
Dube
UCLA Center for East Asian Studies
11266 Bunche Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles, California 90095-1487
email: <cdube@isop.ucla.edu>
fax: (310) 206-3555
[top] Southern California Calendar of Asia-Related Events
Calendar Index
Search
the CEAS website (include "calendar" in your search to turn up
events)
