One of our longest running, most loved series – the films offered in the Masters of Asian Cinema Series span decades and genres, but Curator Jeff Purdue’s selections always represent the very best in World Cinema. Each film features an introduction from select speakers including local professors, artists, and educators.
A tragicomedy initially set in the jianghu-criminal underworld-setting, Ash is Purest White is less a gangster movie than a melodrama. With a three-part structure, it begins by following the quick-witted Qiao (Tao Zhao) and her mobster boyfriend Bin (Fan Liao) as they stake out their turf against rivals and upstarts in 2001 postindustrial Datong before expanding out into an epic narrative of how abstract forces shape individual lives, and continues Jia Zhangke's body of work as a record of 21st-century...
A compelling Taiwanese drama about a wistful schoolgirl (Yang Lin) who is peripherally involved in a teen-aged crime ring. She escapes from the harshness of her surrounding reality by reading her favorite comic book, Daughter of the Nile. Despite its inherent whimsical nature, the film is a straight-on look at urban decay in modern Taiwan....
