TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Award-winning films about Asia will be screened as one of the film series that The University of Alabama’s Asian Studies Program is presenting this semester. This series of six films, each Monday from Feb. 15 until March 29 (with the exception of spring break on Monday, March 15) celebrates the diversity of Asia and its influence on contemporary cinema. Each film will be shown at 7 p.m. in Alston Hall Room 10. The film showings are free and open to students, faculty, and the general public.
The schedule of films is as follows:
Monday, Feb. 15: “Departures” (2008), directed by Yojiro Takita in Japanese. “Departures “won the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Freshly unemployed, young cellist Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) has an epiphany in which he realizes he’s been heading down the wrong career path. Retreating to his hometown, he trains for a new professional role as a nakanshi, or one who prepares the dead for burial.
Monday, Feb. 22: “Still Life” (2006), directed by Zhang Ke Jia in Chinese. “Still Life” won the 2006 Golden Lion Award from the Venice Film Festival. Two couples reunite amid the construction of a new neighborhood along the Yangtze River near the old city of Fengjie, which is now under water because of the Three Gorges Dam. Like the submerged city, the couples must decide what’s worth saving and what’s best left behind.
Monday, March 1: “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), directed by Danny Boyle in English and Hindi. “Slumdog Millionaire” won the 2009 Oscar for Best Picture, along with 7 other Oscars. After almost winning one million Rupees, 18-year-old Mumbai “slumdog” Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is arrested on suspicion that he cheated. While in custody, he regales a jaded inspector (Irfan Khan) with tales of his life on the streets and the story of his lost love (Freida Pinto).
Monday, March 8: “Farewell My Concubine” (1993), directed by Kaige Chen in Chinese. “Farewell My Concubine” won the 1994 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. In a plot that captures 50 years of Chinese history, a seemingly unshakable friendship between two Chinese opera stars gets put to the test in the face of war, a communist takeover, the Cultural Revolution and the intrusion of a woman who tempts both of them.
Monday, March 22: “Heaven and Earth” (1993), directed by Oliver Stone in English. “Heaven and Earth” won the 1993 Golden Globe for Best Score. After enduring a lifetime of hardship in her native Vietnam, a young mother (Hiep Thi Le) becomes the wife of a U.S. marine (Tommy Lee Jones) and starts a new life in America. Director Oliver Stone penned the screenplay for this final installment of Stone’s Vietnam trilogy.
Monday, March 29: “My Beautiful Launderette” (1986), directed by Stephen Frears in English. “My Beautiful Launderette” won the 1986 Best Film award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards. A stunning portrait of two boyhood friends struggling to survive in racially tense Thatcher-era Britain, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a Pakistani, and Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis) use stolen drug money to renovate a London launderette, til conflicting interests threaten their newfound success.
All foreign language films feature English subtitles. The Asian Studies Program, which sponsors this film series, offers an interdisciplinary minor through the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama along with a range of cultural and academic programs. For more information, contact Dr. Steven Ramey at sramey@as.ua.edu or 205/348-4218.
The Asian Studies Program is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.
Contact
Dr. Steven Ramey, assistant professor of religious studies, sramey@as.ua.edu or 205/348-4218 or Richard LeComte, media relations, 205/348-3782