Few images come closer to reality than those recorded by surveillance cameras. In China, a country with strict film censorship, an estimated 200 million such cameras have been installed to capture life unfiltered; mundane daily activities are mixed with dramatic events beyond the realm of imagination. Visual artist Xu Bing’s first feature film stitches together surveillance footage collected from the Internet to create a fictional tale about a young woman traversing life in modern China. The result is a provocative tale as mundane, surreal, and outlandish as reality itself. Known for works that consistently disrupt our understanding of what we see—from Book from the Sky, an installation of books and scrolls with printed “fake” Chinese characters, to Phoenix, giant phoenix sculptures made of salvaged materials—Xu persistently explores the relationship between vision and meaning.The film will begin with a reception and will follow with remarks from Pitt's Gao Minglu and NYU's Zhen Zhang. The evening starts at 4:30 pm---film begins at 5:00---at the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map) and is free and open to the public.
Huun-Huur-Tus style could be best described as profoundly mysterious. This comes as a consequence of their traditional, ritual laryngeal chants descending from Central Asian land of Tuva. This unique song technique reside on developing an enthralling sound cosmos rich in undertones and overtones.
Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature, Hayao Miyazaki’s wondrous fantasy adventure is a dazzling masterpiece from one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animation.It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monroeville, Robinson, and Pittsburgh Mills. Tickets are available online. The October 28 shows are in Japanese with English subtitles while the October 27 and 30 shows are dubbed in English.
Chihiro’s family is moving to a new house, but when they stop on the way to explore an abandoned village, her parents undergo a mysterious transformation and Chihiro is whisked into a world of fantastic spirits ruled over by the sorceress Yubaba. Put to work in a magical bathhouse for spirits and demons, Chihiro must use all her wits to survive in this strange new place, find a way to free her parents and return to the normal world. Overflowing with imaginative creatures and thrilling storytelling, Spirited Away became a worldwide smash hit, and is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time.
Based on a true story from award winning director Daniel Lee (Three Kingdoms, 14 Blades), featuring China’s biggest stars Wu Jing (Wandering Earth, Wolf Warrior 2) and Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Grandmaster), and with a special guest appearance from superstar Jackie Chan. THE CLIMBERS is a cinematic retelling of the first Chinese climbers to summit Mount Everest - the first ever to do so from the North Ridge. Well-known as the most challenging side of the mountain, the perilous journey takes its toll on the mountaineers, physically and mentally, forcing them to make life or death decisions at every turn.The Climbers was the #2 film in China its opening weekend. It plays at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater and tickets are available online. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.
