Jia zhangkes still life with his camera, jia reasserts the primacy of people living in a culture that prizes things the words cigarettes, liquor, and. Like the title suggests, the still life nature of japanese landscape paintings plays a huge roll in shaping the film s overall atmosphere, emphasize the overwhelming sense of. Jia zhangkes hyperlink portrayal of the effects of urbanization on rural china is made beautiful by sweeping camera movements and lingering shots of contemporary life. Jia zhangke is organized at bampfa by senior film curator susan oxtoby and presented in collaboration with sfmoma and sffilm. With the impermanence of life, we must learn to let go. Intervista ad uberto pasolini regista del film still life duration.
Nov 16, 2006 \still life is an impressive, organicfeeling movie that refers to jias earlier films but, extraordinarily, seems to bring together both postwar italian neorealism and the desolate urban landscapes of michelangelo antonioni. Spring in a small town and jia zhangkes still life. Ash is purest white director jia zhangke on the film. Intrinsic meaning looking through jia s previous films, it is overt his fascination with the misery life of grassroot. A separate ticket must be purchased for this event.
It chronicles the closing and reopening of a factory into a luxury apartment complex and in the time explores and evaluates 50 years of chinese history and culture. In 1997, few could have anticipated this work would usher in a new generation of chinese filmmakers, or have guessed that director jia zhangke would become one of the worlds leading auteurs while still in his early thirties. Millions of people are being dislocated by the dam, their homes flooded. For example, xiaowu 1997, zhantai 2000, shijie 2004 are all manifesting the predicament of the underprivileged. He has been married to tao zhao since january 7, 2012. He is a producer and director, known for mountains may depart 2015, a touch of sin 20 and jiang hu. While there is a plot and characters, this picture also captures a specific moment in time and records a pronounced and profound shift in the chinese landscape and the culture around the three gorges town fengjie. Festival programming is always a matter of timing, taste, desperation, politics and. Jia zhangke born 24 may 1970 is a chinese film director and screenwriter. Apr, 2020 the inspiration for still life lies in documentary first, a documentary directed by li yifan and yan yu, before the flood 2005, which jia saw as president of the jury of the cinema du reel documentary festival in march 2005.
Chinas most critically acclaimed contemporary filmmaker, jia zhangke b. Rent still life 2006 starring tao zhao and zhou lan on dvd and bluray. At that moment, those arriving from abroad were asked to take selfisolation at home for fourteen days before further activities in the. The film thus becomes a sadeyed meditation on the nature of social. Jia zhangkes still life, a deeply felt and quietly impressive film, was the winner of the golden lion at last years venice film festival, and. Jia zhangkes still life is a prime example of the effectiveness of observational filmmaking and how the weight of the subject alone and its themes can not only propel but impact the drama forward. Ash is purest white director jia zhangke had an art career ahead of him until a film changed his life. Jan 31, 2008 jia zhangkes still life, a deeply felt and quietly impressive film, was the winner of the golden lion at last years venice film festival, and features the superb and elegant actress zhao tao. Still life, winner golden lion, venice film festival 2006, is an empathetic portrait of those left behind by a modernizing society and, as in director jia zhangke s earlier films platform, unknown pleasures, the world, it is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction. He is a producer and director, known for mountains may depart 2015, a touch of sin 20 and jiang hu er nu 2018. Ruin in the films of jia zhangke corey kai nelson schultz, 2016. Still life 2006 marks a substantial advance on the world.
I agree that zhangkes films are usually slowpaced and mundane. Still life was filming at the same period around 2004 with liu xiaodongs artwork hotbed and jia s documentary film about liu called dong. Following the masterclass, at 8 pm, we will show feng gui lai ren the boys from fengkuei, a favourite film of jia zhangke. Zhangke, whose films still life and the world have direct references to feng gui lai ren, will introduce the film. Zhangke jia was born on may 24, 1970 in fenyang, shanxi, china. Jia zhangke by andrew chan in the marchapril 2009 issue anyone following the early films of jia zhangke would have pegged the mainland chinese wunderkind as a realist, fixated on the gritty textures and languid rhythms of provincial life. Where to begin with jia zhangke bfi british film institute. Jia zhang kes haunting minimalist drama still life aka sanxia haoren. Theater of the world and the related film series organized by gina basso, manager of film programs at sfmoma. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the sixth generation movement of chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as wang xiaoshuai, lou ye, wang quanan and zhang yuan. They are interplayed and one can find tremendous of similarities among these three artworks.
A letter from renowned director jia zhangke, quarantined at home in beijing. The inspiration for still life lies in documentary first, a documentary directed by li yifan and yan yu, before the flood 2005, which jia saw as president of the jury of the cinema du reel documentary festival in march 2005 1. This is not only in the way jia has deepened his themes and characterisations once again, his concerns are with individuals whose lives are disrupted and displaced by ongoing societal changes, but for the first time his central characters are older, more mature. On march 4th, i was back in beijing from the berlin film festival. It tells two stories that run in parallel without intersecting, somehow managing to infuse both tales with greater significance, thanks to the backdrop of the massive three gorges dam project on the yangtze river. But i guess it is to show the regimental and repetitive life of the provincial life in china. It was nominated for the palme dor at the 20 cannes film festival, with jia winning the award for best screenplay. Shot in the old village of fengjie, a small town on the yangtze river which is slowly. Still life, winner golden lion, venice film festival 2006, is an empathetic portrait of those left behind by a modernizing society and, as in director jia zhangkes.
Jia zhangke has an uncanny knack for grounding his portraits of chinese alienation in settings that are at once schematically allegorical and tangibly livedin. The tv news shows peoples unwillingness of relocation. Sanming han in still life 2006 zhangke jia at an event for still life 2006 tao zhao. Recalling antonioni in its spellbinding tableaux of city landscapes in decay and shot entirely on digital video, the film follows a man han sanming and a woman zhao tao. Chinas greatest living filmmaker jia zhangke platform, the world travels with acclaimed painter liu xiaodong from china to thailand as they meet everyday workers in the throes of social. Jia zhangke s still life 2006 stands somewhat at the intersection of the directors earlier, more distinctly fictional, narrative films, and with his more recent, documentary style releases. Specters of realism and the painters gaze in jia zhangkes still life. Festival programming is always a matter of timing, taste, desperation, politics and logistics, not to mention worthiness. Oozing enough ennui and architectural alienation to summon the elegant specter of antonioni, the work of chinas jia zhangke certainly feels like the real deal.
Jan 30, 2008 if jia s four previous features trace the trajectory of a rapidly modernizing china by focusing on a group of young men and women who either bear direct witness to change platform or who have already absorbed it the world, then this latest feature, still life, offers an entirely different perspective by directly transplanting its. Still life 2006, jias film about the mass social dislocation caused by the. Their life is grey and unexciting and zhangke brilliantly portrays their realities through muted palettes and long panning shots. Dong, shown in toronto, is a companion piece to still life, which won the venice festival this year and was belatedly added to the toronto lineup, but neither still life nor dong is in nyff. Its all a question of architecture, of creation against destruction, of space in a big country, of small details pointing to monuments, of people and objects interleaving themselves from afar. Still life maybe doesnt have the budget and bright aesthetics of jia zhangke later epics, it doesnt prevent it from being absolutely beautiful. Jia zhangkes still life to speak about what we dont know poor theory is both daunting and exhilarating. The physical setting for still life is the three gorges region along the yangtze river, one of the most spectacular scenic areas in china. Slow paced, visually arresting and strangely satisfying, writerdirector zhangke jias still life is quite unlike any other film from china ive ever seen. The series complements sfmomas exhibition art and china after 1989. L ast year marked the tenth anniversary of xiao wu, a lowbudget chinese film that was never distributed in the united states. It is at a once a portrait of a rapidly changing china. Director jia zhang ke responds by taking a tack that is alien to the minds of american audiences that are accustomed to the standard beginning, middle, and end of hollywood plots liberally sprinkled by action, sex, or romance. Upgrade to a letterboxd pro account to add your favorite services to this listincluding any service and country pair listed on justwatchand to enable oneclick filtering by.
On the occasion of jia zhangkes latest masterwork ash is purest white, we present a special screening of an imported 35mm print of still life, one of the finest films of the 2000s, followed by a discussion with jia. Jan 18, 2008 after exploring the formal possibilities of the long shot in his breakthrough film, platform 2000, mr. Jia zhang kes haunting minimalist drama still life aka sanxia haoren takes as its focal point the reallife construction of the three gorges hydro project and it accompanying massive dam over. In 1991, i was 21, studying to be an artist, he says during a recent interview. Recalling antonioni in its spellbinding tableaux of city landscapes in decay and shot entirely on digital video, the film. Jia zhangkes still life, a deeply felt and quietly impressive film, was the winner of the golden lion at last years venice film festival, and features the superb and elegant actress zhao tao. Stars of the film include zhao tao, jia s wife and longtime collaborator. Everyday is more or less the same, that comes with a feeling of something missing. The film is set in presentday china, and is based on recent. Fei mus spring in a small town and jia zhangkes still life. Evan osnos on filmmaker jia zhangke commentary the new yorker duration.
True history of the kelly gang soars as a trippy antiwestern. Shot in the old village of fengjie, a small town on the yangtze river which is slowly being destroyed by the building of the three gorges dam, still life tells the story of two people in search of their spouses. Slow paced, visually arresting and strangely satisfying, writerdirector zhangke jia s still life is quite unlike any other film from china ive ever seen. Jia zhang ke has an uncanny knack for grounding his portraits of chinese alienation in settings that are at once schematically allegorical and tangibly livedin. Between shijie and still life, they have in common the mundanes of reality. Either way, it comes as quite a relief to return to sanmings story for the film s final act, an act which goes a long way. It tells two stories that run in parallel without intersecting, somehow managing to infuse both tales with greater significance, thanks to the backdrop of the massive three. In still life, which won the grand prize at the 2006 venice film. In still life, jia tells a story about life of helplessness people. Still life challenges some basic assumptions not just about how life is lived in the wastelands of urbanized china but also about how film directors can record this pace.
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