Celebrate East Asia Film Series begins September 28

The Celebrate East Asia film series, featuring contemporary Chinese films that have won or been nominated for Oscars and other significant film awards, begins with Judou at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 in Richmond Center Room 2008. All screening in the series are free and open to the public free of charge.

The Celebrate East Asia film series is coordinated by Western Michigan University's Department of Comparative Religion, Michitoshi Soga Japan Center, and Timothy Light Center for Chinese Studies, in partnership with the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.

Judou
7 p.m.
Richmond Center Room 2008
Tuesday, September 28

Starring: Gong Li

Directed by: Fengliang Yang and Zhang Yimou

Released: April, 1991

Judou is a young woman that was bought into a marriage by her brutal, infertile owner. To save herself from a torturous death, she conceives a son with her owner’s nephew and starts an affair with the nephew. This film has been nominated for an Oscar and has won three other film awards

Departures
7 p.m.
Richmond Center Room 2008
Thursday, October 7

Starring: Masahiro Motoki and Ryoko Hirosue

Directed by: Yojiro Takita

Released: September 13, 2008

Departures is about a cellist whose orchestra has just been dissolved, and he finds himself unemployed. So he takes his family into his hometown where he takes a job preparing the deceased for funerals, taking pride in his work as time goes on; despite the rest of his family despising his work. This film has won an Oscar and thirty-two other film awards and was nominated for six other awards.

 

The Professor and his Beloved Equation
7 p.m.
Richmond Center Room 2008
Thursday, October 14

Directed by: Takashi Koizumi

Released: January 21, 2008

This film is about the relationship between a brain-damaged professor and a single mother. It has been nominated for one movie award and nominated for two others.

Raise the Red Lantern

7 p.m.
Richmond Center Room 2008
Tuesday, October 19

Starring: Gong Li

Directed by: Zhang Yimou

Released: December 20, 1991

In 1920’s China, after the death of her father, a young woman is forced to marry a man who already has three wives. Each of the wives compete with one another to spend each night with their husband. This film has been nominated for one Oscar and won fourteen other film awards.