Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Chinese movie Hello, Mrs. Money (李茶的姑妈) in Pittsburgh, through October 11.



The new Chinese movie Hello, Mrs. Money (李茶的姑妈) will continue in Pittsburgh through October 11.
Adopted from the stage show of the same name, Hello, Mrs. Money tells the story of Li Cha, a poor guy, and his billionaire auntie. To win the heart of his beloved girl who likes money, Li Cha asks his billionaire aunt to help.
Tickets are available online via Fandango.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Korean drumming group Tago (타고) in Pittsburgh, October 18.


via @TAGOpage

Korean drumming group Tago (타고) will perform in Pittsburgh on October 18, part of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts.
"Tago" means lighting up the world by beating drums. Tago creates shows based on a theme of "Buk," a Korean traditional drum. They play a mixture of Korean traditional instruments - from gigantic drums to small percussion - with martial arts movements. The music is sexy, intense, and sophisticated. Tago tries to make music which lasts long in people's hearts and memories.
Tago will perform at the Byham Theater at 8:00 pm. Tickets are now on sale starting at $25.

"Red China's Green Revolution," October 10 at Pitt.



The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Joshua Eisenman and his lecture "Red China's Green Revolution" on October 10.
Joshua Eisenman’s (马佳士) research focuses on the political economy of China's development and its foreign relations with the United States and the developing world—particularly Africa. His work has been published in top academic journals including World Development, Development and Change, Journal of Contemporary China and Cold War History, and in popular outlets such as Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy. His views have been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist and The New Republic.

Professor Eisenman's newest book, "Red China’s Green Revolution: Technological Innovation, Institutional Change, and Economic Development Under the Commune" (Columbia University Press, 2018), explains how more capital investment and better farming techniques increased agricultural productivity growth in Maoist China. In "China Steps Out: Beijing’s Major Power Engagement with the Developing World" (Routledge, 2018), he worked with Eric Heginbotham to analyze China’s policies toward the developing world. His second book, "China and Africa: A Century of Engagement" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), co-authored with David Shinn, was named one of the top three books about Africa by Foreign Affairs. Their next volume, under advance contract with the University of Pennsylvania Press, will examine the China-Africa political and security relationship.
The event runs from 4:30 to 6:00 pm in 3703 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

Monday, October 8, 2018

Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) at Pitt, October 17.



The 1997 film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 17 as part of the occasional Spectacles Film Series, presented by the Department of Religious Studies. A 1999 Roger Ebert four-star review summarizes:
Hayao Miyazaki is a great animator, and his "Princess Mononoke" is a great film. Do not allow conventional thoughts about animation to prevent you from seeing it. It tells an epic story set in medieval Japan, at the dawn of the Iron Age, when some men still lived in harmony with nature and others were trying to tame and defeat it. It is not a simplistic tale of good and evil, but the story of how humans, forest animals and nature gods all fight for their share of the new emerging order. It is one of the most visually inventive films I have ever seen.
The event starts at 6:00 pm in 120 Lawrence Hall (map).

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Love in the 1980s (1980年代的愛情), October 11 at Maridon Museum.



The next installment of this fall's film series at the Maridon Museum is the 2015 Chinese movie 1980年代的愛情. A Film Business Asia review provides an overview:
Gongmu township, central China, autumn 1982. After graduating from university, and as part of his "grassroots" government training, Guan Yubo (Lu Fangsheng) is assigned to the remote, mountainous township of the Tujia ethnic minority to work as its publicity/education officer. Xiang Yu'e (Li Shutong), his girlfriend from college, has to remain in the city. Yubo works directly under the mayor, whose current government challenge is to meet birth-control quotas. Feeling lonely, Yubo befriends an old cook, Tian, who used to be a teacher but whose career was destroyed by an anti-rightist campaign. One day Yubo bumps into his secret first love from high school, Cheng Liwen (Yang Caiyu), who happens to be in the township working in a local shop. She's polite but uncommunicative. Unlike Yubo, she didn't manage to get into university, due to her family's political problems. Later, the two of them visit her father, who now lives alone in the mountains, making wooden birdcages. Gradually the two grow close but then, after six months, Yubo's term of service ends and it comes time for him to leave.
The movie starts at 6:00 pm and is free and open to the public, though reservations are required to be made by phone: 724-282-0123. The Maridon Museum is an Asian art museum at 322 N. McKean St. in downtown Butler (map) that runs film series periodically throughout the year, in addition to art classes, book club meetings, and its regular exhibits.

Friday, October 5, 2018

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) playing in Pittsburgh, October 28, 29, 30.



The 2001 Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) will play in Pittsburgh as part of GKIDS Studio Ghibli Fest 2018 from October 28 through 30.

Japanese Conversation Tables at Pitt, starting October 5.


"Osaka, Japan" by Pedro Szekely (Creative Commons)

Pitt's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will begin its Japanese Conversation Tables today. It's a chance for native Japanese speakers and members of the Pitt community learning Japanese to meet and practice outside of the classroom. The sessions meet in 244A of the Cathedral of Learning (map) from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm on October 5, October 19, November 2, and November 30.

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Vietnamese coffee with Art Labor, a Ho Chi Minh City-based artist collective, October 13 at CMOA.


Hammock Café in Seoul, via artlaborcollective.com.

As part of the opening celebration for the 2018 Carnegie International on October 13, the Carnegie Museum of Art will host Vietnamese coffee with Art Labor, a participant in this year's exhibition.
Art Labor is an artist collective based in Ho Chi Minh City, who work in between visual arts, social and life sciences in various public contexts and locales. We do not produce single artwork but develop many-year-long journey during which one inspiration is a seed to cultivate. The seed grows – the inspiration expands and bears into rhizome of projects and artworks.
The artists introduce their Hammock Café installation:
Jrai Dew hammock café is part of Art Labor’s long-term project ‘Jrai Dew’, which projects critically the cost of capitalized world through mythic narratives. It takes inspiration from Jarai belief in the human and the cosmos. In their philosophy, being human is a part of the metamorphosis cycle of the nature. After death, the journey going back to their origin ends at becoming dew (ia ngôm in Jrai language) evaporating to the environment – the state of non-being – the beginning particles of new existence. In this metaphorical context, forestland with its people is the vanishing dew, while new existence of modernization and industrialization arise. By using products and symbols that either belong to the Central Highlands of Vietnam or related to the violent changes in history, Jrai Dew leads to a scene of human chaos however in a poetic and dreamy way.
The event is held in the Heinz Gallery C from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and is open to those who purchased museum admission. The museum is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map), accessible by buses 28X, 58, 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 67, 69, 71B, 71D, 75, and P3.

2018 Korean Music Festival, November 3.



The Korean Association of Greater Pittsburgh and the Korean Heritage Room will present the 2018 Korean Music Festival on Saturday, November 3. It will start at 7:00 pm at Frick Fine Arts Auditorium in Oakland (map). The event is $10 for adults, free for students and children, and half-price for those who come dressed in hanbok.

Silk Screen ceases operations after allegations of abuse and sexual harassment against staff and volunteers.

Pittsburgh Current has a lengthy article on the Silk Screen Film Festival and its decision to cease operations after allegations of abuse and sexual harassment against its diretor. KDKA News has a video report on it as well. For its part, the organization says its folding is "part of a long-planned board decision due to financial challenges."

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