Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2013

This year's Terracotta Far East Film Festival will be bigger and better than ever, running from 6th - 15th June across 2 venues (The Prince Charles cinema and the ICA).

This year there are 4 sections:

1. Current Asian Cinema

This includes the Johnny To produced Drug War.

2.Terror Cotta Horror All-nighter

5 horror films shown from 11.30pm - 7am!  Including A classic retrospective presentation of an old Japanese Macbeth-like folk tale; The Ghost Story of Yotsuya. 

3. In Memory of Leslie Chueng and Anita Mui

I'm very pleased about this selection which includes one of my top 10 favourite films Rouge.

4. Spotlight on: Indonesia 

There's more to Indonesian cinema than The Raid!

For all the info and to buy tickets see: http://terracottafestival.com/festival-info/schedule/

The music for this year's Festival will be fantastic - as I will be programming it!  I will be selecting the songs you hear in the auditorium before each film commences.  Wonder if I can sneak in some Chinese Reggae :)

There are masterclasses, special guests, Q&As and parties too.  I will write more on my festival picks soon......

Only a few days left (closing date 20th May) but this short film competition is amazing too!:

http://terracottafestival.com/festival-info/short-film-competition-2013

Daniel York's short play Song Of Four Seasons (四季歌) is @ Rich Mix Fri 17th May

Daniel York's short play Song Of Four Seasons (四季歌) has been selected for Tamasha Theatre’s next Scratch Night at Rich Mix this Friday 17th May.  The performance is script in hand but rehearsed and stars Michelle Wen Lee, Jennifer Lim and Jess Woo.

The play concerns identity, displacement and belonging. It was inspired by the singer Chinese singer Zhou Xuan and the song Four Seasons which is a tale of separation, love and small people whose lives are destroyed by big events. 

Zhou Xuan, is one of China’s great movie stars whose life was as dramatic and tragic as any of the characters she portrayed. I discussed her fascinating life and career in my radio programme on The Seven Singing Stars of Shanghai.  Her legacy lives on today and the song Four Seasons featured in the 2007 Ang Lee film Lust, Caution.

 

Daniel York's short film, Mercutio’s Dreaming: The Killing Of A Chinese Actor, was recently nominated for four awards at the WMIFF festival.
 

Daniel's full length play, The Fu Manchu Complex, will open the autumn season at Ovalhouse Theatre this October 2013. 

I spoke with Daniel, who is also the Vice Chair, Equity Minority Ethnic Members’ Committee, earlier this year about the RSC Orphan of Zhao casting controversy.  Daniel York is now part of the group British East Asian Artists. 

I am really pleased that Zhou Xuan's life and work will be brought to a wider audience with this play.  The Pathe 100 compilation of her music is highly recommended (see below).

 

 

Chinese Visual Festival 2013

This year's Chinese Visual Festival will run from May 8th – June 12th @ King’s College London. The festival includes:

• 4 prominent directors in attendance from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
• Art exhibition and artist talk, with Chinese artist Wang Yuyang in attendance
• 29 films screened (all UK premieres and including 1 world premiere)
• Concert performances from Chinese and British musicians
• 2 Panel Discussions, 1 round table and 1 public lecture with key industry figures and academics

The festival has expanded this year to cover art and films from Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as Mainland China.

For the full schedule please see the CVF 2013 web site.

Highlights:

• ART

Objects of Fantasy, the first solo exhibition for Chinese artist Wang Yuyang is now on at the Inigo Rooms, Somerset House East Wing from (until 12^th June).

Wang's BREATHE《呼吸》

• FILM

Taiwanese film maker Wu Wuna will be in attendance, her films Farewell 1999 about her mother and The Dream Never Sets, about her father, will be screened on 29th May.  The trailer (no subs sorry) for The Dream Never Sets is above and seems to include a Dub Reggae soundtrack - I'm excited!

This year, the festival has selected its first ever animated shorts and fiction film For more information on Film please click here.

• MUSIC

Renowned Pipa musician Wang Ting returns to play both a solo concert and a collaborative show with top London jazz pianist Chris Lee.  I was fortunate enough to attend Wang Ting's concert last year and hear her beautiful renditions of classical Chinese music on the pipa.  The collaboration with Chris Lee sounds really interesting, the pipa was used in some of the Shanghai Jazz ensembles of the 1920s-30s.  The concert will take place at 8pm on Monday 27th May, Room SWB21, King's College, Strand.

For all the info on CVF 2013 see: http://chinesevisualfestival.org/

In the Mood for Wong Kar Wai

Here's my latest mix, as promised it's WKW themed. I tried to capture the dreamlike quality of a WKW movie, I hope you enjoy my selection. Qi paos are optional, good quality Chinese tea is essential.

In the Mood for Wong Kar Wai by Luckycatzoe on Mixcloud

WIN Tickets to Lady Snowblood - Terracotta Film Club 24th April

Next Wednesday 24th April The Terracotta Film Club will screen the classic Japanese vengeance movie Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫, Shurayukihime).  The 1973 film is directed by Toshiya Fujita and stars Meiko Kaji, based on a manga called Shurayukihime it tells the story of Yuki, a woman who seeks vengeance upon three people who raped her mother and killed her mother's husband and son.  The film is widely known to be the inspiration for Tarantino's Kill Bill movies.  

You lucky, lucky Lucky Cat readers have the chance to WIN 2 TICKETS to next Wednesday's screening in London (8.45pm, Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Sq)!  Thanks to the good people of Terracotta Film you can bask in blood splattered cinematic glory completely gratis!  

TO WIN all you need to do is email me: luckycatzoe@gmail.com and I will pick the winner at random when the competition closes at 7pm on Monday 22nd April.  Good luck!

 

The Terracotta Film Festival is going to be bigger and better than ever this year and I am super excited about it.  Not least because this year there will be a section dedicated to the films of Leslie Chueng and Anita Mui!  The festival will run for a magnificent 10 days across two venues: The Prince Charles and the ICA. 

I'll be bringing you more festival news soon but for now mark down 6th June on your calendars as that's when it all kicks off (insert martial arts film joke here).

 

Reggae 45s Mix Online

Well my vintage amp is finally mended and I can record from vinyl to mp3 again. First up I've recorded a mix of Reggae 45s for your listening pleasure. Some of these are Soul/RnB covers which I really love e.g. The Marvels version of The Ronettes' Be My Baby. Next up I think it's time for a Wong Kar Wai inspired mix....Watch this space....

Reggae Music Again! by Luckycatzoe on Mixcloud

Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha - Bruce Lee had all the moves!

Check out the rare footage of Bruce Lee dancing the cha cha at this blog:

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/presenting_the_1958_hong_kong_cha_cha_championship_winner_my_bruce_lee

I knew Bruce was the cha cha champion of Hong Kong in 1958 but I'd not seen all these pics and the video before. Roast Pork Sliced from a Rusty Cleaver blog has some nice early photos of Bruce and some stills from the 2010 film Bruce Lee, My Brother. The still pictured here is from that film.

Another Bruce Lee biopic is in the pipeline: Birth of the Dragon. Find out more here .

On a side note earlier this year I visited the Hollywood Costume exhibition at the V&A museum and saw Uma Thurman's yellow and black jumpsuit from Kill Bill on display. There was no reference to the fact that this was a homage to Bruce Lee's costume, disgraceful! Apart from that gripe the exhibition was wonderful btw.