In Chinese culture, the expression “electric shadows” (“dian ying”) refers to the art of film. Today the electricity of those first projectors that allowed Chinese people to take delight in films has largely been substituted by the digital media with which a generation of new moviemakers is leaving a testimony of their country’s changing society. In recent years, independent Chinese cinema has experienced rapid development with the shift from stills to bytes. Digital media permit directors to take more chances, to be more daring, to explore hybrid documentary/fiction formats and combine images shot by themselves with others, reused and re-contextualised. Rather than mere nostalgia or simple social protest, the titles brought together in this retrospective show us some of the more unusual angles of Chinese reality thanks to plural points of view and varied approaches.

The cycle will comprise 18 movies filmed digitally from 2000-2010. We will therefore also discover some of the most interesting Chinese filmmakers to have made their appearance in the last decade.

This cycle is co-organised with San Sebastian’s San Telmo Museum and enjoys the collaboration of the Filmoteca de Catalunya.

DIGITAL SHADOWS: LAST GENERATION CHINESE FILM

• Enter the Clowns, by Cui Zi’en (2001)
• Unknown Pleasures, by Jia Zhangke (2002)
• Fuck Cinema, by Wu Wenguang (2005)
• Crazy Stone, by Ning Hao (2006)
• The Other Half, by Ying Liang And Peng Shan (2006)
• Meishi Street, by Ou Ning, co-producido por Cao Fei (2006)
• Little Moth, by Peng Tao (2007)
• Jalainur, by Zhao Ye (2008)
• Perfect Life, by Emily Tang (2008)
• The Love of Mr. An, by Yang Lina (2008)
• 1428, by Du Haibin (2009)
• Disorder, by Huang Weikai (2009)
• Oxhide Ii, by Liu Jiayin (2009)
• The Search, by Pema Tseden (2009)
• The Ditch, by Wang Bing (2010)
• The High Life, by Zhao Dayong (2010)
• Thomas Mao, by Zhu Wen (2010)
• Winter Vacation, by Li Hongqi (2010)

Short Films

• In Public, by Jia Zhangke (2001)
• Condolences, by Ying Liang (2009)

Thematic retrospective

Under more generic, allegorically-entitled headings, the Festival has grouped together films not commonly offered (even in specialised sections) and which, nevertheless, deserve filmgoersí attention. Based on this philosophy, a number of cycles have seen the light, including "The Guys in the Photo", "Forgotten Films"; "You Only Live Once", "The Best 100 Years in our Lives", "The European Adventure", "Spanish Cinema Discoveries", "The Red Nightmare", "A Long Absence", the two editions dedicated to post-war Italian comedy, entitled "Hunger, Humour and Fantasy" and "The Boom Italian-Style", or "The TV Generation", "It Happened yesterday", "50 from the 50s", "Amongst friends and neighbours", "Incorrect@s", "Rebellious and untamed", "Emigrants", "Cold Fever", "Japanese Film Noir", "Backswash; curring edge of french cinema", ".doc – New paths of non-fiction" last of these cycles.

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• 08 / 24 / 2011
  Twenty titles in the ''Digital Shadows: Last Generation Chinese Film'' cycle at San Sebastian Festival
  The cycle includes 18 features and 2 shorts by prominent contemporary Chinese filmmakers