2016.03.10 Thu, by
“Jit Ze – Asian Film and Video Screening” is coming to happen

[press release]

Hot sugar cane (Cantonese: jit6 ze3) was once a popular snack in Hong Kong cinemas, it is also a taste that can be found all across Asia. “Jit Ze – Asian Film and Video Screening” takes film as a medium for connection and association, in the light of such sociocultural topics today in Asia as boundary, social system, belief systems, growth etc. To explore these subjects, Rooftop Institute organized the screening of films, videos and documentaries made by directors and artists from China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines; each screening session will be followed by a series of public seminars and artist dialogues. The screenings are free and open to the public.

“Jit Ze” is the first programme organized by Rooftop Institute. We hope these films will provide a new perspective to understand Hong Kong’s neighboring countries. With its choice of films and documentaries, this series will reflect particularly on the following issues: reflect on history through colonial and boundary disputes; ponder over the social systems through the everyday life of people from the lowest stratum of society; think about values through dreams and adherence; see through the myth of civilization and progress through the struggles in growth; and lastly, look for the possibility of resisting memories in history through our body.

“Director in Focus” section invited mainland China director Zhao Liang to showcase his two significant films – Petition and Crime and Punishment ; Being one of the most active moving images artist in contemporary China, Zhao Liang’s works express the self-consciousness of “public awareness” and concern for the lower class people in the society. The heavy price paid to make a fast growing economy in China possible and the transformation of the social structure provide the setting for his films. Highlight is in this 318-min full version Petition, Zhao Liang interviewed the petitioners and explored the issue in Beijing for a period of 12 years. Also there are two public seminars by Zhao Liang and Dong Bing-feng, Academic Director of OCAT INSTITUTE Beijing on “public awareness” of Zhao Liang’s film and post-89 Chinese independent film movement.

In “Asian Focus” section, from the sovereignty dispute of Preah Vihear Temple between Thailand and Cambodia, Thai director Nontawat Numbenchapol hopes to make viewers reflect on the meaning of “boundary” upon nations. Japanese director Hikaru Fujii attempts to focus on recording how people treat and resist towards the memory of history with their body, through conducted a workshop on wartime memories with local korean students, he explores such issue in his latest short film. Vietnamese director and founder of Hanoi independent art space, DocLab, Nguyen Trinh Thi studies the cultural threat caused by the recent Vietnamese government’s action. The essay film is about the government’s plan to build Vietnam’s first two nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan, where is the spiritual heart of the Cham people, threatening the survival of this ancient matriarchal Hindu culture.

“Youth-Fest” section showcases films on the topic of youth. Mainland director Peng Zuqiang’s film is based on the found diaries by a young man named Chang Chi from Hunan, China. Chang Chi came to Hong Kong and wrote the book Spanish Vignettes about his experience in the Spanish Civil War. Paper Airplane by Zhao Liang is the story of a group of youngster, who left their hometown to Beijing to develop their underground rock band under the upheavals and abrupt changes of social values. Filipino director Shireen Seno’s “Big Boy” chronicles the growth of a family, the myths of progress that consume them. She will also come to Hong Kong to share her research on the 30 years of Filipino alternative and experimental moving image practice in the public seminar.

Programme Schedule
DIRECTOR IN FOCUS

Venue: Connecting Spaces Hong Kong
G/F, Wah Kin Mansion, 18-20 Fort Street, North Point, Hong Kong

2016.04.02 (SAT) 1:00PM
Petition (2009) | Zhao Liang (China)

2016.04.03 (SUN)1:00PM
Crime and Punishment (2007)| Zhao Liang (China)

DIRECTOR IN FOCUS – Public Seminars
2016.04.03 (SUN)3:15PM – 4:15PM
Director Dialogue: Zhao Liang’s Reflection on Image Politics and Public Consciousness

Director: Zhao Liang
Moderator: Dong Bingfeng

2016.04.03 (SUN)4:30PM –5:30PM
Exploring Chinese Independent Film Movements during Modernization in Asia

Guest Speaker:
Dong Bing-feng, Academic Director of OCAT INSTITUTE, Beijing

******

ASIAN FOCUS

Venue: WING
Unit 2102, 21/F, Chai Wan Industrial City Phase 2, 70 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong

2016.04.16 (SAT)12:00 NOON
Boundary (2013)|Nontawat Numbenchapol (Thailand, France, Cambodia)

2016.04.16 (SAT)2:00PM
The Educational System of an Empire (2015)| Hikaru Fujii (Japan)

2016.04.16 (SAT)2:30PM
Letters from Panduranga (In Smoke and Clouds) (2015)| Nguyen Trinh Thi (Vietnam)

ASIAN FOCUS – Public Seminar

2016.04.16 (SAT) 3:15PM – 4:15PM
DocLab - The Advocator of Documentary Filmmaking and Video Art in Hanoi, Vietnam

Guest Speaker : Nguyen Hoang Thien Ngan, DocLab Programme Officer
Moderator: Professor Frank Vigneron, Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

******

YOUTH-FEST

Venue: Things that can happen
1/F, 98 Apliu Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

2016.04.22 (FRI)7:00PM
Paper Airplane (1997)| Zhao Liang (China)

2016.04.22 (FRI)8:30 PM
Spanish Vignettes (2015)| Peng Zuqiang (China)

2016.04.23 (SAT)2:00 PM
Big Boy (2012)|Shireen Seno (Philippines)

YOUTH-FEST – Public Seminar
2016.04.23 (SAT)3:45PM-4:45PM
From 8mm and 16mm to HD and cellphone video – research on 30 years of Filipino alternative and experimental moving image practice

Guest Speaker : Shireen Seno, Director
Moderator:Dayang Yraola, Independent Curator