Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2013

This year's Terracotta Far East Film Festival will be bigger and better than ever, running from 6th - 15th June across 2 venues (The Prince Charles cinema and the ICA).

This year there are 4 sections:

1. Current Asian Cinema

This includes the Johnny To produced Drug War.

2.Terror Cotta Horror All-nighter

5 horror films shown from 11.30pm - 7am!  Including A classic retrospective presentation of an old Japanese Macbeth-like folk tale; The Ghost Story of Yotsuya. 

3. In Memory of Leslie Chueng and Anita Mui

I'm very pleased about this selection which includes one of my top 10 favourite films Rouge.

4. Spotlight on: Indonesia 

There's more to Indonesian cinema than The Raid!

For all the info and to buy tickets see: http://terracottafestival.com/festival-info/schedule/

The music for this year's Festival will be fantastic - as I will be programming it!  I will be selecting the songs you hear in the auditorium before each film commences.  Wonder if I can sneak in some Chinese Reggae :)

There are masterclasses, special guests, Q&As and parties too.  I will write more on my festival picks soon......

Only a few days left (closing date 20th May) but this short film competition is amazing too!:

http://terracottafestival.com/festival-info/short-film-competition-2013

Daniel York's short play Song Of Four Seasons (四季歌) is @ Rich Mix Fri 17th May

Daniel York's short play Song Of Four Seasons (四季歌) has been selected for Tamasha Theatre’s next Scratch Night at Rich Mix this Friday 17th May.  The performance is script in hand but rehearsed and stars Michelle Wen Lee, Jennifer Lim and Jess Woo.

The play concerns identity, displacement and belonging. It was inspired by the singer Chinese singer Zhou Xuan and the song Four Seasons which is a tale of separation, love and small people whose lives are destroyed by big events. 

Zhou Xuan, is one of China’s great movie stars whose life was as dramatic and tragic as any of the characters she portrayed. I discussed her fascinating life and career in my radio programme on The Seven Singing Stars of Shanghai.  Her legacy lives on today and the song Four Seasons featured in the 2007 Ang Lee film Lust, Caution.

 

Daniel York's short film, Mercutio’s Dreaming: The Killing Of A Chinese Actor, was recently nominated for four awards at the WMIFF festival.
 

Daniel's full length play, The Fu Manchu Complex, will open the autumn season at Ovalhouse Theatre this October 2013. 

I spoke with Daniel, who is also the Vice Chair, Equity Minority Ethnic Members’ Committee, earlier this year about the RSC Orphan of Zhao casting controversy.  Daniel York is now part of the group British East Asian Artists. 

I am really pleased that Zhou Xuan's life and work will be brought to a wider audience with this play.  The Pathe 100 compilation of her music is highly recommended (see below).

 

 

Chinese Visual Festival 2013

This year's Chinese Visual Festival will run from May 8th – June 12th @ King’s College London. The festival includes:

• 4 prominent directors in attendance from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
• Art exhibition and artist talk, with Chinese artist Wang Yuyang in attendance
• 29 films screened (all UK premieres and including 1 world premiere)
• Concert performances from Chinese and British musicians
• 2 Panel Discussions, 1 round table and 1 public lecture with key industry figures and academics

The festival has expanded this year to cover art and films from Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as Mainland China.

For the full schedule please see the CVF 2013 web site.

Highlights:

• ART

Objects of Fantasy, the first solo exhibition for Chinese artist Wang Yuyang is now on at the Inigo Rooms, Somerset House East Wing from (until 12^th June).

Wang's BREATHE《呼吸》

• FILM

Taiwanese film maker Wu Wuna will be in attendance, her films Farewell 1999 about her mother and The Dream Never Sets, about her father, will be screened on 29th May.  The trailer (no subs sorry) for The Dream Never Sets is above and seems to include a Dub Reggae soundtrack - I'm excited!

This year, the festival has selected its first ever animated shorts and fiction film For more information on Film please click here.

• MUSIC

Renowned Pipa musician Wang Ting returns to play both a solo concert and a collaborative show with top London jazz pianist Chris Lee.  I was fortunate enough to attend Wang Ting's concert last year and hear her beautiful renditions of classical Chinese music on the pipa.  The collaboration with Chris Lee sounds really interesting, the pipa was used in some of the Shanghai Jazz ensembles of the 1920s-30s.  The concert will take place at 8pm on Monday 27th May, Room SWB21, King's College, Strand.

For all the info on CVF 2013 see: http://chinesevisualfestival.org/