霸王别姬 | Farewell My Concubine

Farewell My Concubine is a 1993 Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige, is one of the central works of the Fifth Generation movement that brought Chinese film directors to world attention. Similar to other Fifth Generation films like To Live and The Blue Kite, Farewell My Concubine explores the effect of China’s political turmoil during the mid-20th century on the lives of individuals, families, and groups, in this case, two stars in a Peking opera troupe and the woman who comes between them. The film is an adaptation of the novel by Lilian Lee. Lilian Lee is also one of the film’s screenplay writers.

Directed by Kaige Chen | Starring : Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Li Gong, You Ge, Wenli Jiang | Presented at Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival, Tokyo Film Festival, New York Film Festival

心香 | The True-Hearted

One day Jing Jing, a ten-year-old boy, moves to his grandfather’s house in the south because of his parents’ divorce. His grandfather, a Beijing Opera actor, is not at all happy, since he had opposed his daughter’s marriage. Jing Jing gets into a trouble at school. The film illustrates classical Beijing Opera in different generations and the boy’s process of growing-up.

Directed by Zhou Sun | Starring : Yang Fei, Xu Zhu, Lili Fu, Yumei Wang, Jielin He | Presented at Hawaii Film Festival