Culture Yard holds weekly Chinese movie night “China through Cinema” every Tuesday at 19:00. Chinese language with English subtitles.

Culture Yard’s Chinese Movie Night series introduces important directors and major trends in Chinese cinema of the last three decades, as well as its depiction of different aspects of modern and contemporary life in different parts of the Chinese speaking world (mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan).

Each month, the screenings will be organized according to a different theme. Every movie night starts with a short introduction, including historical and social background, information about the director and the movie, as well as notes on specific Chinese phrases used in the movie. The screening will be followed by an open discussion about the movie in connection to the theme.

Theme of July: “Gender Troubles”

July 20: Raise the Red Lantern （大红灯笼高高挂 Dahong Denglong Gaogao Gua）1991，Zhang Yimou

A masterpiece of Zhang Yimou. Adapted from Su Tong’s novella, it is a story about the suppression of women through the love and hatred between the women, the four wives of one patriarchal husband shot with a suffocating and almost devilish colourfulness in a claustrophobic harem that houses the four women who “fight” for being (sexually) favoured by the husband, which has led to a sorrowful tragedy in the stringent winter snow.

July 27 East Palace, West Palace （东宫西宫 Donggong Xigong）1996, Zhang Yuan

The first gay movie of mainland China. It’s powerful and audacious. In the labyrinth of garden at dark, a policeman is interrogating an arrested gay man who has come to the infamous park to resolve his “troublesome” desire. As the story develops, this “troublesome” desire narrated and acted out by the arrested gay man turns out to be some uncontrollable controlling of both the policeman and the audience alike. We conclude this month’s theme of “Gender Trouble” with this troublesome movie.