| Cinema China 07 – Chinese cinema goes on the road |
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| Culture | |
| Thursday, 03 May 2007 | |
 From Edinburgh with love... So comes Cinema China, “the UK’s biggest ever festival of Chinese film.” Kicking off at the University of Edinburgh in February, with a sell-out masterclass from the legendary Maggie Cheung, Cinema China is now on the road in various cities around Britain and Ireland. Spanning 80 years and 26 films, Cinema China aims to give a focus to films from the ‘three Chinas’ – The People’s Republic, Hong Kong and Taiwan. From the 1934 classic, Goddess starring the tragically short-lived Ruan Lingyu, through to Zhang Yimou’s popular arthouse movies Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower, Cinema China boasts a simple premise – to tell the story of Chinese cinema. While not every city is playing the full programme, there’s something to appeal to most tastes. Says Mark Cousins, co-director of the festival: “Our aim from the start has been to pay tribute to the greatest film directors who’ve worked in the Chinese language.” So, Cinema China takes a structured approach. Beginning with mainland movies of the 40s, it covers 1960s Hong Kong and Taiwanese cinema, and showcases China’s Fifth Generation directors, especially Yimou. Lesser-known directors also get a look-in. “We are particularly pleased to introduce British audiences to the films of Xie Fei, one of the prime exponents of the Beijing Film Academy,” says Cousins.  The result is a pot-pourri of titles. Wong Kar-wai’s exotic In the Mood for Love, influential action-classic One-Armed Swordsman, and much of Yimou’s back catalogue (Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern) are more familiar to western audiences. Others, such as the Hong Kong musical The Love Eterne - an inspiration to both Ang Lee and Tsui Hark – are less so.An absence of the Hong Kong action thriller, from their 80s and 90s heyday, is perhaps a surprise. But all in all, Cinema China brings a welcome breath of cherry-blossomed air to a select set of Britain’s picture-houses. It runs until May in some locations – catch it if you can. http://www.llc.ed.ac.uk/cinema-china/ Glenn Watson |
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