From Variety:

China’s powerful State Administration of Radio, Film and TV has tightened its grip on the biz by ordering all online content providers to apply for a license before broadcasting material on the Internet. The new rules are a blow to foreign producers trying to break into the potentially lucrative but heavily regulated Chinese market because it effectively means that only state-approved TV stations and cinemas will be able to import content for webcasting.

This move by the government is in line with earlier actions taken to tighten media control in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the revolution that gave power to the Communist Party along with the 20th anniversary of the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square. during pro-democracy demonstrations.  The goal of course is to silence any kind of public dissent and to limit what people in China have access to.   And this is of course quite disappointing.

takepart to support an open internet here in the US with the Open Internet Coalition and also takepart to read about Jia Zhangke, a Chinese director that’s doing his part to document the current rapid change happening in the country - or just click on one of the links below:

• Still Life, Images of a Changing China
• Jia Zhangke Tackles History, Memory and Workers
• A World of Good and Jia Zhangke : Videos of the Day
• NPR Tackles Jia Zhangke’s China
• Jia Zhangke’s “The World” : Olympic Film Recommendation CHINA
• Film 24/7 at Cannes Film Festival : Jia Zhangke’s 24 City
• Black Breakfast : Stories on Human Rights
• 24 City : Upcoming Movie Trailer
• Life That is Anything But Still : Top 10 Movies of 2008

Still Life

Not only was Still Life my number 1 film of 2008, it is without a doubt one of my top films of all time.  A lot of what it below comes from the original review I wrote on the film, but as it stands, I still feel the same way about Jia Zhangke’s masterpiece about China’s Three Gorges Damn and the people who are stuck adjusting to a changing time.

The film came about when Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke came into contact with the town of Fengjie and the Three Gorges hydro project. The project has caused that part of China to undergo serious change and the visual landscape of the land is one of a slow destruction and a slow climb to modernization.

An almost invisible mix of documentary and fiction, Still Life focuses on two main characters, Sanming and Shen Hong, as they return to Fengjie to find their missing spouses and upon arrival find a town in transition. Sanming spends his time waiting for the boat his wife work’s on to arrive by getting a job in demolition. Shen Hong searches for her husband with one of his friends and visits various establishments.

What makes the picture amazing are the small moments, the moments in which you need no words or explanation to understand that the country is changing, that Communism is giving way to Capitalism and that the environment is at risk. Images tell the story here - it’s men in white suits and gas masks spraying the crumbling buildings that the poorest in the community are tearing down with no masks to protect them, it’s two workers sharing dinner and their individual cell phone rings, it’s bottled water, it’s handing out cigarettes, toffee and noodles and mostly it’s the ever changing landscape. Read the rest of this entry >>

One last movie list for 2008. This time I give a shout out to those films that I saw, loved but sadly did not get distributed in 2008 - so most people couldn’t see them.  If any of my Top 5 Undistributed Films of 2008 comes anywhere near you be sure to check them out - it may be your only chance and they are not to be missed.

Apparently, 24 City now was distribution for 2009(which is exciting news!) - but I am including it on the list anyways since I’ve been wanting to put it on a list since I started making them.

It is that good.

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1. 24 City (Jia Zhangke)

Here are my initial thoughts on 24 City after seeing it at the NYFF :

Jia Zhangke Tackles History, Memory and Workers

Read the rest of this entry >>

NPR made me very happy today! On Fresh Air they have a piece about my most favorite working filmmaker, China’s Jia Zhangke.  Critic John Powers discusses the extraordinary Still Life and Jia’s work in general.

Jia is amazing, as Powers says, “It’s always hard to foresee how the future will judge today’s artists, but I do feel confident predicting one thing. In 100 years, people will still be interested in the films of Jia Zhangke, and I’m not sure I can say that about Twilight or Slumdog Millionaire.”

I would write more but think instead you should just takepart and listen to the piece.

Also, I’ve written about Jia a lot here on TakePart, so if you are in a reading mood, check out these pieces:

Jia Zhangke Tackles History, Memory and Workers

Jia Zhangke’s “The World” : Olympic Film Recommendation CHINA

Still Life, Images of a Changing China

*photo from marcokalmann’s flickr account

Jia Zhangke’s 24 City

Screens Saturday September 27 : 3:00pm

Tao Zhao in Jia Zhangke's 24 City

I should first admit that I adore the films of Jia Zhangke - they provide me with more inspiration than anything I’ve seen in a long time. His latest, entitled 24 City, is somewhat of an experiment and while it may not immediatley draw one in like Still Life or The World, the film is extraordinary. I’m working on a longer review of 24 City, but with the films NYFF screening being tomorrow I wanted to post something now.

24 City is an incrediably graceful combination of real person interviews, fictionalized interviews, landscape footage, portraits of people, pop music and poetry.    All of these elements come together to tell the story of a place called Factory 420 and it’s teardown in order to build a luxury apartment communtity called 24 City. If it all sounds complicated it really isn’t. The structure of the film might be complex but the emotion on the faces of people, combined with their words and footage of the factory being torn down is quite simple and beautiful. Read the rest of this entry >>

The Olympics give us a great opportunity to learn about different countries in a non-judgmental way. The camaraderie between the athletes and those watching allows us to appreciate our worldly neighbors instead of only focusing on the politics of it all - which of course the people very little say in. Likewise, cinema allows us to learn about different countries in respectful ways, especially when the film focuses on the people and not the government. It is with that I decided to do a small series of foreign film recommendations based on celebrating the Olympic spirit and learning about the rest of the world with an open mind.

Today I give you a film from our Olympic host China. In the past weeks the focus on China has had to do with pollution, dirty politics in Darfur and their underage gymnasts. And while all of those things are supremely important, there is an entire country of people who have nothing to do with those issues outside of their personal carbon footprints.

One filmmaker that always does an amazing job of capturing the lives of everyday Chinese citizens is Jia Zhangke. He always manages to portray the important issues of the day but still make clear the individuals struggles people face.

Olympic Film Recommendation : CHINA

Jia Zhangke’s The World

Read the rest of this entry >>

The 46th New York Film Festival line-up was announced yesterday and while it isn’t as exciting as I hoped, there is still a lot to look forward to. I love the NYFF and more than that, it is a great place to find TakePart worthy films - films that open your eyes, ears and hearts to social issues and countries you may not normally think about.

takepart to read about all the films being featured at this year’s fest and read below for some highlights of the films I am especially excited about

“24 City” (Er shi si cheng ji)
Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan, 2008; 112m
The rise and fall of a Chinese factory town is chronicled in this film, straddling the border between fiction and documentary.

“Che”
Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain, 2008; 268m
Steven Soderbergh’s two-part Spanish-language epic about Che Guevara’s revolutionary military campaigns in Cuba and Bolivia features a brilliant lead performance by Benicio del Toro. Read the rest of this entry >>