Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by FrankC on December 16, 1999 at 19:42:39:

The Asian Museum in San Francisco will be showing 7 films by one of most brilliant filmmaker of the world - Hou Hsiao-hsien of Taiwan between January 6 through 16, 2000. J. Hoberman from the Village Voice says, "Hou Hsiao-hsien is my candidate fro the world's greatest active narrative filmmaker." If you were born in Taiwan, this is a chance to catch up with your roots! Many of his films have excellent historical and cultural insights. I've only seen one of his work so far, the "City of Sadness" which talked about the 228 incident in Taiwan in which many of the Taiwanese elites were murdered by the Kuomingtung army (from China) in 1947. I am not a film expert, but his technics are simple yet spectacular. Unfortunately many of the splendor get lost in the English translation (subtitle). His films have won several international acclaims. Before you see any of the films, I would suggest reading some background information on the internet which will help you understand the background context.

A friend has e-mailed me film reviews of all these films. Unfortunately I cannot find a site that has reviews for all his works. If you are interested, e-mail me. Please check the Asian Museum's website for more information about the movie showings.

• SF Asian Art Museum Film Programs