Av Festival 12: Still Life (2006)
Part of the Av Festival 12: As Slow As Possible
| Director: | Jia Zhang-ke |
|---|---|
| Certificate: | Unknown |
| Length: | |
| Format: | Unknown |
| Language: | Chinese |
| Country: |
"STILL LIFE is a most welcome reminder of one of the most vital voices in world cinema." - INDIEWIRE
"A modern master of postmodern discontent, Jia Zhang-ke is among the most strikingly gifted filmmakers working today whom you have probably never heard of." - NEW YORK TIMES
IN SHORT
Still Life is set in Fengjie, 150 miles from the Three Gorges Dam, the hydroelectric project on the Yangtze River that submerged thousands of towns and displaced more than a million people.
Shot while Fengjie was being demolished, the film has a powerful documentary impact, as two people travel there separately to look for their missing spouses.
AWARDS, REVIEWS
STILL LIFE gathered incredible critical acclaim internationally - judge for yourself:
Still Life premiered in the 2006 Venice Film Festival, where it won the film festival's top prize, the Golden Lion award.
The director "looks at globalization with shrewdness rather than hostility, betraying a seeking nature as much as exacting cultural criticism. (…) "Still Life" is a most welcome reminder of one of the most vital voices in world cinema." - INDIEWIRE
"A modern master of postmodern discontent, Jia Zhang-ke is among the most strikingly gifted filmmakers working today whom you have probably never heard of. His work exists on a continuum with the modernist masters, among other influences, but he is very much an artist of his own specific time and place. His canvas is China, where, as the indelible image of a tightrope walker in “Still Life” suggests, people navigate the fine line between heaven and earth." - NEW YORK TIMES
" Jia (who, following World, has returned to independent production) makes it clear that China's laissez-faire economy is as cruel as its communism or feudalism. What's striking about Still Life is its micro-analytical curiosity: Judgment seems suspended—like the bridge that magically lights up over the Yangtze or the unlikely tightrope walker glimpsed in the movie's last shot." - THE VILLAGE VOICE
"Despite all this desolation and depression, however, “Still Life” is an extremely beautiful movie: the river and the green mountains on both sides of it extend into the distance in majestic panoply; gray clouds hang over the scene like painted backdrops. Jia, working with the cinematographer Yu Likwai, is incapable of an ugly or a nonresonant image: the air is moist and palpable, and even the thick, rusted pipes of abandoned factories seem to breathe." - THE NEW YORKER
Voted 3rd best film of the 2000-2010 decade by the Toronto International Film Festival!
Look here: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thelostboy/tiff_cinematheque_names_best_of_decade
.
CINEMA OPEN FROM 6.30PM + PIZZA + DISCUSSION!
The cinema will be open from 6.30pm - so come early, and have a slice of pizza and a drink with us!
We will also have a discussion with the audience after the film – so do stick around and share your thoughts with us!
.
Part of AV Festival 12: As Slow As Possible
GET YOUR TICKETS HERE: www.avfestival.co.uk
PRICE: £5/£3.50 (conc)
AV Festival Film Loyalty Card - Collect 4 stamps and the 5th film is FREE
WHOLE PROGRAMME OF THE AV AT THE STAR AND SHADOW HERE http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/on/season/111
.
Other films in the Av Festival 12: As Slow As Possible:
04
Film: Av Festival 12: Stalker (1979, Russia, Dir. Tarkovsky)
4 Mar 2012, 9 p.m.
One of the most enigmatic films ever made about time, from the widely admired director Tarkovsky.
07
Film: Av Festival 12: Five + Discussion (2003, Iran, Dir. Kiarostami)
7 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Radically minimalist film from the genius Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami.
08
Film: Av Festival 12: Frost (Start Of Slow Cinema Wkend) + Q&A (1997, Germany, Dir. Kelemen)
8 Mar 2012, 8:30 p.m.
Frost is a landmark European film, made on 16mm film by german director Fred Kelemen.
09
Film: Av Festival 12: Whole Evening Of Films (Slow Cinema Wkend): 6pm - 11pm + Directors Q&A
9 Mar 2012, 6 p.m.
Masterpiece from German filmmaker Fred Kelemen + incredible from "the ideological father of the New Philippine Cinema".
10
Film: Av Festival 12: Whole Day Of Films (Slow Cinema Wkend): 11am - 11pm + Directors Q&A
10 Mar 2012, 11 a.m.
Gorgeous film from British superstar Ben Rivers + 10 hour film from Phillipino director Lav Diaz!
11
Film: Av Festival 12: Whole Day Of Films (Slow Cinema Wkend): 11am - 11pm + Directors Q&A
11 Mar 2012, 11 a.m.
Latest film from the incredible British artist and filmmaker Ben Rivers - NOT TO MISS!! Followed by film epic from Lav Diaz.
14
Film: Av Festival 12: Colossal Youth + Discussion With Samm Haillay (2006, Portugal, Dir. Pedro Costa)
14 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
An intimate epic, where present and past move as one, collaboratively filmed with patience and empathy.
15
Film: Av Festival 12: Honor Of The Knights + Intro From Film Lecturer (2006, Spain, Dir. A. Serra)
15 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Serra’s striking, controversial adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, is a revelatory portrait of the relationship between the frail Quixote and his stout loyal scribe Sancho.
18
Film: Av Festival 12: Finisterrae + Skype Q&A W. Director! (2010)
18 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Two Russian-speaking ghosts leave the Sonar Music Festival, along the pilgrim path to Santiago de Compostela then on to Finisterre: the end of the world, to seek rebirth. Inspired by Garrel’s 1972 film The Inner Scar, this surreal and humorous tale is Caballero’s first feature, with a stunning soundtrack including Nico and Suicide.
21
Film: Av Festival 12: Lung Neaw Visits His Neighbours + Discussion (2011, Thailand)
21 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
This debut feature by visual artist Tiravanija is a portrait of the slow passage of time and simplicity of everyday life in a small village near Chiang Mai. The artist follows old uncle Lung Neaw with a 16mm camera during his daily routines. With compassion and humility, we see him walk, talk, eat, pray, cook, hunt, smoke, drink and visit his neighbours.
25
Film: Av Festival 12: Eternity + Discussion (2010)
25 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
This debut feature won the prestigious Tiger Award at Rotterdam 2011. Evoking the traditional Thai belief that the spirit of the dead returns, Eternity follows a man through three stages of being - as a ghost in his childhood home, as a young man falling in love, and absent in the life of his family in the days following his death.
28
Film: Av Festival 12: Double Bill: Butterflies Have No Memories + Independencia
28 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Special double bill!
29
Film: Av Festival 12: Let Each One Go Where He May (2009)
29 Mar 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Russell’s stunning feature debut is an epic road movie drawing from documentary and ethnography. Set in Suriname and shot almost entirely with 16mm steadicam, in thirteen extended ten-minute shots it follows two brothers as they trek from Paramaribo to rainforest villages of the Maroons. Their journey powerfully mirrors that undertaken by their ancestors escape from slavery 300 years earlier.