CYCLE - CHINA AWAKENING 

18, 24, 27, 28 SEPTEMBER
1, 5, OCTOBER
AUDITORIUM
Cinema

CYCLE: CHINA AWAKENING

China has recently been emerging as a source of cinematographic production in among the most diversified and dynamic styles within the context of contemporary world film. In this brief slice of the current Chinese film panorama, there is a set of six fiction films, all multiple award winners at international cinema festivals and almost all never before shown to a Portuguese audience. Far from the clichés prevailing in the western media, these films depict stories now under invention within the life of this huge Asian country and how individual routes are impacted by the ongoing and profound social, economic and cultural transformations taking place in the country. A practically unique opportunity to see the latest in Chinese film.

PRICE: € 3.00
Co-Production: Fundação Oriente/Zero em Comportamento

18 September
21:30
Blackguard Quingzi
Director: Wei Xue-Qui
China, 2007, 90’, Colour
Cast: Zhu Hongwei, Meng Qiaohui
M/16

Qiangzi leaves the prison. The changes in town make him feel unfamiliar. He tries hard by memory to look for his home. But he only find ruins. Qiangzi wants to restart life, but he is not accepted by the society. Everyone knows he used to be a hooligan.

24 September
21:30
The Other Half (A Outra Metade)
Director: Ying Liang
Korea/China, 2006, 111’, Colour
Language: Mandarin
Subtitled in Portuguese and English
Cast: Zeng Xiaofei, Deng Gang, Zhao KeChow
M/16

A sensitive and ironic portrait of an industrial city in China. A young employee at a law firm has to deal with the flow of client complaints, the fallout of her boyfriend’s gambling habit, a distant relationship with her father and the growing threat of pollution. The film integrates true stories of women forced into seeking out legal advice in a fictional story told from the feminine perspective.

27 September
21:30
Little Moth (A Pequena Trança)

Director: Tao Peng
China, 2007, 99’, Colour
Language: Mandarin
Subtitled in Portuguese and English
Cast: Han Dequn, Zhao Huihui, Hong Qifa, Zhang Lei, Xu Zelin
M/16

A poor couple purchase an 11 year old girl to set her to work begging in the street. The girl has lost the use of one of her legs due to disease. One day, she meets a boy who has had an arm amputated and is also a beggar and had already been traded three times. Taking advantage of a momentary lapse in adult oversight, the pair attempt to flee a life of begging. A story of survival on the lower rungs of Chinese society filmed with great sensitivity and almost documentary precision.

28 September
21:30
Blackguard Quingzi

1 October

21:30

Ma Wu Jia

Director: Zhao Ye

China, 2007, 92’, Color

Subtitled in Portuguese

Featuring: Li Shixin, Zeng Jinlan

Cert. 16



Ma Wu Jia lives with her sick mother and her younger brother in a small city. Her brother suffers from kidney disease and Ma Wu Jia has to quit school and work in a factory to provide for the family. The life of Ma Wu Jia takes on the metaphor of a nunnery. Her desire for release and the moral choices that she has to confront are those that we are all called on to face. Brilliantly acted by amateurs, this Zhao Ye film is an absorbing and morally challenging experience.

5 October

21:30

The Red Jacket (Hong Mian’ao/O Casaco Vermelho)

Director: Zou Yalin
China, 2007, 90’, Colour
Featuring: Wu Yuchun, Long Honghua, Yang Ziwei
Subtitled in Portuguese.
Cert. 16

A little girl, Cui Jo, lives in a remote village along with her grandmother. Missing her own mother, who is working in some distant city, and her deceased father, young Cui Jo is somewhat jealous of her best friend and her large and affectionate family. If only Cui Jo could at least have a pretty red jacket just like her friend, then maybe her life might be better? But her mother is not going to be home until the New Year and her grandmother can barely afford to keep them as it is. Will Cui Jo manage to get her coat? And what sacrifices might her grandmother have to undertake so that this happens?