Chinese cinema featured in upcoming nine-film tribute in Athens and Patras
The explosion of Asian cinema in the past few years has acquainted the Greek public with a previously undiscovered genre, including the many films of contemporary China. Very few films from this massive Asian country make their way to European theaters, including those of Greece. But a tribute being organized at Athens’s Microcosmos theater from Friday to November 1 and at Patras’s Ideal from November 2-8 intends to move against this trend by screening nine films by contemporary Chinese filmmakers. Many of the themes focus on human relationships, the role of women in Chinese society, the generation gap and family conflict. For example, «The Girl from Beijing» looks at a family of internal migrants who leave their village to live in the big city; «Tae Kwon Do» follows a young woman as she grows up while noting that internal growth is the key to maturity; «Huayao Bride in Shangri-La» shows one woman’s efforts to emancipate herself from traditional bonds; «Red Snow» stars a Chinese rock star who takes on the mountains of Tibet; and «She Who Loved Me Left» looks at the relationship between three generations of women. The tribute is jointly organized by the Greek Ministry of Culture and the State Radio, Film and Television Directorate of the People’s Republic of China, with the Patras 2006: Cultural Capital of Europe organization arranging the event on the local front.
