Two Chinese movies will be part of the 2019 Carnegie Mellon University International Film Festival, running from March 21 through April 7: the 2018 drama Girls Always Happy (柔情史) and the 2017 documentary Four Springs (四个春天).
Girls Always Happy will play on March 31 at 4:00 pm in McConomy Auditorium.
Wu is in her mid-twenties and lives with her mother in a traditional one-story house in one of Beijing’s hutongs. Both consider themselves to be writers, but success has so far eluded them. Their unhealthily close relationship is characterised by reproaches and quibbling; only during meals do they appear to lay down their verbal weapons. The situation escalates when both Wu and her mother hit an emotional low. Often compared to the fellow mother-daughter film, LADYBIRD, GIRLS ALWAYS HAPPY is both a funny and dramatic depiction of a complicated parent-child relationship, elevated by the charming performances of the two leads: An Nai and director Yang Mingming herself.Four Springs will play on April 6 at 7:30 pm in McConomy Auditorium.
After the popularity of his online diary, “My Father,” filmmaker Lu Qingyi decided to turn a camera on his parents’ everyday life in the remote town in Guizhou. Over four springs, we see the flow of life: chores, singing, hikes, celebrations, funerals, reunions, and separation. After a family tragedy forces Qingyi from the role of participant to observer, he becomes more deeply moved by the open-minded, pristine life philosophy his parents reveal through their everyday interactions with people and nature. Through the tool of cinema, Lu crafts a profound visual diary of family in southwest China that will have the viewer calling their family to say “I love you” as soon as the screen goes dark.Tickets are available online as of today.
