Now Playing

Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai - 2019 - 79m - China - no matinees

From acclaimed director Wang Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle; So Long, My Son) comes a personal snapshot of contemporary China in all its diversity. Shot over the course of ten years on both film and video, the film consists of a series of carefully composed tableaus of people and environments, each one more extraordinary than the last.

Pedestrians shuffle across a bustling Beijing street, steelworkers linger outside a deserted factory, tourists laugh and scamper across a crowded beach, worshippers kneel to pray in a remote village. With a painterly eye for composition, Wang captures China as he sees it, calling a temporary halt a land in a constant state of change.

"A stunning trip through modern China, a vast country with a diverse population and landscapes." -Alissa Wilkinson, VOX

"A spellbinding snapshot of a time and place, both of which are rapidly disappearing." -Patrick Gamble, Kinoscope

"More than just chronicling a country in transformation, Chinese Portrait signals seismic shifts in cinema as well." -Clarence Tsui, The Hollywood Reporter

View Trailer

Dir. Mijie Li - 2019 - 82m - China - Mandarin w/ English subtitles

Filmmaker Mijie Li's first feature (she co-produced Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's American Factory), Confucian Dream is an observational documentary about a Chinese woman's embrace of the ancient philosophy of Confucianism and how it affects her family.

Chaoyan, a young wife and mother, believes the ancient teachings of Confucianism will restore balance, respect and morality to her home. She involves her four-year-old son in the rigorous routine of chanting daily mantras. Little Chen may not yet understand the recitations' meanings, but mom is confident she's planting a seed for the future.

Chaoyan's husband finds the daily practice excessive, and indeed many Chinese people today criticize it as feudalistic, conservative, and counter-revolutionary. While Confucianism's primary purpose is to instill peace and harmony, the opposite occurs between Chaoyan and her husband as their beliefs clash and their arguments escalate, bringing forth a gripping portrait of marital and parental crisis.

"With great sensitivity, Confucian Dream presents the viewer with the specific outcome of a woman's conversion, but at its heart, it explores universal truths about relationships." - Chelsea Phillips-Carr, POV Magazine

View Trailer