WANG HONG WEI: CHINESE INDIE FILM

The player of Jia Zhangke's early film "Xiao Wu" and the famous independent film activist Wang Hongwei talked about Chinese independent films at the IFF Independent Film Forum.

Swallowtail Butterfly

‘Body’ is an object we are all familiar with. For British sculptor Anthony Gormley, it is a medium for expressing thoughts about space, while for young female artist Wang Ying, it is a potential vehicle for expressing emotions. This documentary uses a split-screen method to create a three-dimensional space like a "body". It not only explores the artistic concept and development of Wang Ying, a female artist born in the 1990s who studied in the UK but also completed it on this basis. The documentary creator (me) thinks about her and her body, from'meeting','seeing' to'existence'

Still Life

In the dream I had one early morning in 2014, I was sitting in the backseat of a car. The driver suddenly turned to look at me and said: Why aren’t you filming? It was my second elder sister who had already passed away. After her death, I began to keep a diary and take pictures. When I got a video camera, I began to film the daily life of my family. I filmed out of the fear of death and loss. The idea was to capture everything on film before it disappeared. 2015 was the 20th anniversary of my sister’s death. That dream seemed to tell me to face her death. Death did not stop the passing of time, and the family members I was filming continued to avoid their grief which hadn’t subsided with time. Birth and death continue to alternate in our lives, and we are always getting ready for the day when we must say goodbye.

News Feed on My...

I just watch the news of war in a distant country on my mobile. My fingers go back day by day to the day the war broke out and pose to see comments posted on the Facebook News Feed that I follow. Outside, I have friends who participated in anti-war rallies.

Talking Unknown, Ending Unknown: Li Hongqi And His Cinema World

In this talk, Li Hongqi reviewed his transition from fine art to cinema, and his aesthetic and philosophical exploration from his early 'So Much Rice' to recent 'The The'. Dir. Li Hongqi also shared his strong anxiety of his existence(born with melancholia), his thought on cinema art (actually, I don't think there's any movie worth making), his epistemology, his religious view, his consideration on contemporary cinema, and what he learned about living in seclusion.

Walk in the Dark

Bao, a blind woman, sings every day on the streets of Peking to make a living. She is caught up in an endless lawsuit in the hope of having some money reimbursed while doing her best to rear Ming Ming, her mentally ill daughter. After a car accident, and to her mother's great despair, Ming Ming decides to drop out of school and become a street artist. History seems to repeat itself.

Ram

This investigative documentary gives a comprehensive record of the development of China's "August 3 Crackdown on Mafia" campaign. Li Xiaoming, the main character of the film, escapes from the incident and goes through many ups and downs. The film explores that period from a personal point of view, slowly revealing the untold story of that period.

Veteran's Letters to Home

THE LONGWANG CHRONICLES: A YEAR OF LIFES IN A CHINESE VILLAGE

Unusually popular religions and extreme secular beliefs, unconstrained power and no authoritarian society, people work hard on the land and live thrifty but do not believe in the meaning of life at all. This is Longwang Village, an empty old farming society, the most essential reality of an ordinary western village. The film does not have a perpetual plot. The images are presented with the changing of the four seasons. There is no great joy or great sadness. Everything is recorded, and no results are produced. Strictly speaking, this is actually just a rural video file, a running account of ordinary western villages without all rhetoric.

On the Road

Only a few days before the Spring Festival of 2008, several truck drivers set off from Nantong, Jiangsu Province, to Guizhou province to deliver goods. But what they didn't expect was that they ran into a big snowstorm not long after their departure. What would these drivers do after they got caught up in a snowstorm and coudn't do nothing about it but wait? How would they react to this unexpected halt? And what would happen to this convoy?

Silent Landscape

This is a film about the unison between the four seasons of life and the four seasons of the year, intertwined with the geospatial and temporal dimensions of a small town named Tongchuan situated on the northwest of the Loess Plateau.

Chenjiayong

An individual's life experience is always a reflection and epitome of the times. Through the environment, literature, oral narration, calligraphy and painting works, this film faithfully records the upbringing background, family circumstances and life of the painter Chen Jiyong. His life experience and mind-watching are an ordinary case of countless intellectuals who have disappeared in the dust of time. At the same time, he has become a sample of images and life statues about this period of history.

Single Woman

The film records the emotions and destinies of seven single women. Whether at a loss, confused, waiting in hope, disappointed, helpless, compromised, independent or defiant, they are closely bound up to this agitated and chaotic era. Through their different experiences they tell us about the failed marriages of middle-aged women, about life being single, and about a group of men who have not yet showed up but who appear vivid from a female perspective.

Riverbed

This is an image of a family. Through the memories of many people, it traces the growth, migration and different life experiences of several generations of the author's family. It shows the destiny of ordinary people and their inner scenery in social transformation. Each generation has its own joy and pain, and life still continues in hope, hardship and helplessness. The various imprints of survival that remain in the film are the hard riverbed of individual life and a period of micro-history washed out by time

Koudelka

This is a documentary filmed in a subjective perspective. Without any commentary, the film records, in the switches and transitions of the faces, the gamut and track of emotions and vision of the author in enjoying the photographs by Koudelka—from the scenes of life in “Gypsies”, to the conflicts in “Invasion”, further to the still images in “Exiles”, and finally focused on desolately dignified “Chaos”. The four chapters of the film echo the four photo albums of Koudelka. With the indoor CD player playing the music by Shostakovich, the invasion of the landscape without the windows, intermingled with the background noise, complicates the ambient circumstances of the film and renders an immediate sense of urgency and relevance.

Preachers

This is a documentary about faith, narrating the stories of a dozen or so Christians in the city of Tongchuan, in Shaanxi Province. Through the lives and beliefs of four generations of preachers, the film reflects on the profound influence of 50 years of social change on the local church. Whether recounting personal setbacks encountered on the serving path or people’s weaknesses, growth, or disputes within the church community, the film becomes a neutral and faithful portrayal of a group of preachers, of the history of the church community and of the status-quo of belief in this faithless era.

Gas

On April 6, 2001, a gas explosion occurred in the Chenjiashan Coal Mine of the Tongchuan Mining Bureau in Shaanxi Province, killing 38 people. On November 28, 2004, a gas explosion occurred in the Chenjiashan coal mine, and 166 people were killed. Five years later, Lin Xin, the son of the miners, filmed this film about mine disasters. Through the oral interviews of more than 20 people, such as miners and family members of the victims, and random interviews on the street, the film presents the real life of the miners and the cruel and complicated social reality behind the mine disaster from different angles. This film is the end of Lin Xin's "Trilogy of Survival".

Classmates

Twenty plus classmates look back into the past, tracing back through a 30 year history. One after another adapts to the random events that come to shape their lives, to the four seasons of life and nature. The years they were about experience coincided with the reforms and opening up of China. Floating in the changes of the new era, some experience compromises and the loss of ideals, whilst some keep struggling ahead with great determination. Thirty years later, Lin Xin encounters his old classmates, and records their individual lives and history; the ease of monotony, the loneliness of success, the weariness of a life of plentiful, the helplessness of poverty... all come forth in the lives of these group of people, becoming an epitome of the lives of ordinary people in small to middle-sized cities in this era, and at the same time reflecting on a generation that advances forward undefeated.

Sanlidong

This is a documentary about the father of a miner. In 1955, more than 300 young people from Shanghai came to Sanlidong Coal Mine in Tongchuan City, Shanxi Province with the hope and dream of supporting the construction of the Northwest. After 50 years, most of the builders of that year were gone. In the land where black coal is buried, the fate and breathing of the miners are always stirring. The film uses 15 clips to record the old miners, the deceased and the era that is still living in the area, witnessing the tenacity and dignity of life with a group of miners. They are: Shu Guoqi, Gu Longxiang, Shen Longgen, Wang Zhengxiang, Yao Hongchang, Ge Dengfa, Zhang Baisheng, Lu Rongchu, Zhou Shougen, Luo Shijun, Ding Fuzhen, Tong Guang, Gao Zhangshun, Chen Yixiang, Zhu Yongsheng.

Chen Lu

Painter Lin Xin tells the story of a thousand-year-old ceramic town in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau in this first experimental documentary "Chen Furnace". The film consists of a 360-degree panoramic prologue and three parts: "Self-Talk", "Bone Style" and "Style". "Fengqing" focuses on the unique scenery of the ancient town's folk customs, houses and famous-tank wall.The film consists of a 360-degree panoramic prologue and three parts: "Self-Talk", "Bone Style" and "Style".The charm and product production process of traditional ceramic crafts such as hand-drawn blanks and engravings are displayed; "Fengqing" focuses on the unique scenery of the ancient town's folk customs, houses and famous-tank wall. The whole film, with its gazing gaze and poetic language, tries to leave in the video the final scene of the "Furnace Never Ending" and the traditional Chen Fa gradually fading away.

Naqoyqatsi

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me

From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.

To Kill a Tiger

Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.

Seduced and Abandoned

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

McQueen

Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence.

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

A documentary on legendary movie-poster artist Drew Struzan.

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty

A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.

Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

A Toxic Love Story

A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.

Come See Me in the Good Light

In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.

Directed by John Ford

A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.

A Decade Under the Influence

A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential directors of that time.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present

Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The Curse of the Dragon

A 1993 documentary film about Bruce Lee. The film includes interviews from some of his fellow students and opponents who worked alongside him in his movies.

The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button

A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.

The Class of ‘92

A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.