JUNE SPECIAL EVENT
June Four: Three Films
This special film event commemorates the anniversary of the protest movement at
Tiananmen Square in Beijing and the nationwide crackdown on 4 June 1989
3
JUN
Black Cannon Incident 黑 炮 事 件
Wednesday, 5:30-7:30pm
Directed by Huang Jianxin 黄建新
1985, 94 mins, China. Chinese with English subtitles
The Auditorium, China in the World Building 188, Fellows Lane, ANU
A rare political satire, Black Cannon Incident was among the
harbingers of the New Chinese Cinema that garnered international
attention from the mid-1980s. When engineer Zhao Shuxin sends
an urgent telegram — ‘Missing black cannon, search in 301 for
Zhao’ — his cryptic message arouses suspicion, leading to an
absurd investigation that forces him out of his job, bewildering his
German colleague and eventually costing his factory a large sum of
money. Made as a parody of the spy movies popular in China during
the 1950s-1970s, and sporting a groundbreaking modernist set
design, this black comedy satirizes the incompetence and paranoia
of the bureaucracy, an assessment widely shared by the Chinese
population in the late 1980s.
4
JUN
Thursday, 5:30-7:30pm
Lessons in Dissent 未 夠 秤
Directed by Matthew Torne
2014, 98 mins, Hong Kong/ UK. Cantonese & English with English subtitles
The Auditorium, CIW, Building 188, Fellows Lane, ANU
Filmed between 2011-2012, Lessons in Dissent follows highschool
student Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 and his former schoolmate, Ma Jai 馬
雲祺 (馬仔) , as they lead a protest against the proposed National
Education curriculum in Hong Kong’s schools, which they reject as
patriotic indoctrination. Ma Jai (17), is a school dropout active in
the League of Social Democrats; while Wong (15) founds ‘Scholarism’ to fight the proposals, but soon gets swept into the media
spotlight. While both are arrested for their actions, the unprecedented protests ultimately succeed in making the patriotic curriculum optional rather than compulsory. Meanwhile, Wong and
Scholarism have gone on to become formidable voices in Hong
Kong’s democracy movement.
5
JUN
Friday, 5:30-8:30pm
The Trouble Shooters 顽 主
Directed by Mi Jiashan 米家山
1988, 110 mins, China. Chinese, with English subtitles
The Auditorium, CIW, Building 188, Fellows Lane, ANU
Adapted from a novel by renowned Chinese writer Wang Shuo,
The Troubleshooters is a comedy set in 1980s Beijing, about three
friends who open a company specialising in fulfilling people’s
dreams — even just for one day. Soon they are called upon to stage
all kinds of wish-fulfilling scenarios to realise people’s fantasies,
as well as trying solve their practical problems. Hilarious and
absurd, the film foregrounds fantasy and performance as deeply
human practices, particularly during China’s transitional period
from a ‘socialist’ to a ‘capitalist’ economy, when old dreams must
be reconciled with new realities, and the only way to bridge the
rupture between past and present is through the solidarity of farce
and laughter.
This monthly film series
offers a fresh window on
social realities, cultural
transformations and
creative imaginings from
across Asia and the Pacific,
through documentary
and feature films made
by some of the most
entertaining, insightful
and uncompromising
filmmakers in our region.
Screenings are followed by
a short discussion, led by
relevant local and invited
scholars and filmmakers.
Sponsored and hosted by
the Australian Centre on
China in the World, the
series is programmed
by a team with diverse
expertise in visual
culture, dramatic arts,
independent cinema and
popular culture in Asia
and the Pacific.
CO N VENORS:
Ying Qian
ying.qian@anu.edu.au
Olivier Krischer
olivier.krischer@anu.edu.au
Jinghong Zhang
jinghong.zhang@anu.edu.au
M O R E I NFO: http://ciw.anu.edu.au