The Academy Museum will dedicate November to a month-long reflection on the history depicted in Chinese films.
“Hollywood Chinese: The First Years”, written by documentary filmmaker and longtime Academy member Arthur C. Dong, is a screening series of feature films and short films—some classics, some obscure—that mark the highs and lows of how the Chinese are portrayed in cinema, especially in the Western studio system. The series is an evolution of Dong’s 1400 documentary, which kicked off on November 4. series, and 1968 books of the same name.
“When people watch movies like Hollywood Chinese , they really only see clips .. we really need to see the whole, because it’s unfair to the artists and creators we critique and censor work 12 seconds,” Dong, who previewed his series October. as He was part of an ongoing Hollywood China exhibition at the famous Formosa Café in West Hollywood, told The Hollywood Reporter . “Now these issues of representation and Chinese character development in Hollywood films have the opportunity to go further and screen the entire film in full. I take it as a responsibility and a burden to contextualize certain films like [1400′ s] Lost Horizon and [250’s] The Seven Faces of the Old Doctor .”
As part of the series, Dong has written seven double features, possibly decades apart but with a certain similar movies. For example, in November “Tong War”, all Tongman
The series will also celebrate underrated gems, especially those that venture outside of the Western studio system. In “Escape from Hollywood” in November 25, Dong Huiping 1968’s Arch , considered to be one of the earliest art films in Hong Kong, and 1937 Independent Film Xiuxiu: Confidant Girl . Both films, directed by Chinese women (Tang Shushu and Chen Chong, respectively), also represent examples of Chinese-American talent having to leave the United States in order to broaden their creative and professional horizons. “Chen Chong has a breakthrough role in The Last Emperor , is the naivety that should have erupted, but mainly uses her sexy exotic Emotional roles,” Dong said, adding that Lisa, who starred in Arch , also faced Hollywood before she became famous in Chinese films Over typesetting. “For me, it’s also about Chinese Hollywood. It’s not just movies that we can throw away. It’s also about the experiences of Chinese-American or Chinese-American artists and what they’ve gone through and achieved and the legacy they left us.”
In his series, Dong intends to help attendees consider the complex and sometimes contradictory legacy of Chinese imagery in Hollywood, sometimes in the same film, such as Hollywood’s Charlie Chan , The Sand Pebbles (for Makoto Iwamatsu nomination for a Supporting Actor), and even Flower drum song . “ Flower Drum Song is one of my all-time favorite movies, it’s celebratory, but as David Henry Wong said, it’s a movie that has Lots of guilt-ridden cinematic fun. Sand Pebbles Beautifully crafted, kicked off Mako’s decades-long career on screen and on stage and made him famous Loud noise. But it’s about James Hong playing colonialism, white saviours, Chinese whores and horny Chinese men,” the programmer said. “Most, if not all, films have issues, but there is also a level of celebration, saying we should be proud of what we’ve achieved – in context – we should take criticism in context and move forward and get out of it Lesson learned.”
) Arthur Dong 2022 Matthew Simmons/Getty Images
Several screenings Will be accompanied by conversations with special guests including Hong Big Trouble in Little China (screening Nov. 1) 5), Chen Wei Xiu Xiu and The Last Emperor (this will be displayed as November 09 for the ongoing Oscar Sunday for the museum part of the series), Nancy Kwan (discussing her starring role in Flower Drum Song , November screenings 08, and her experience working with early leaders James Shigeta and Bruce Lee as part of November double function to walk like a dragon and to enter a dragon ) and Production The Joy Luck Club Dean Janet Young (Screening 11 Month ).
For some selections, Hollywood China screenings will represent some of the films that have been received over a considerable period of time or have been The highest quality exhibition. Bernardo Rondeau, senior director of the museum’s film program, said: “To put this series together, search the archives, work with filmmakers and their families to ensure the best possible copies of these films, we did A lot of hard work,” he first discussed the possibility of conducting this screening series with Dong, a member of the organization’s Inclusive Advisory Council, a few years ago, even before the museum opened. “Some of them are rare, such as [David] Cronenberg’s M. Butterfly and Arches , certainly not the caliber of the [set] Tedman Theatre.”
“For me, this series is one of the museum’s signature series. It is in its approach, approach and subject contains the DNA of this museum and our film program: a focus on inclusion and expansion,” said Rondeau. “This is a bittersweet tale of cinematic history. We will go back in time and hopefully rediscover, reshape our understanding of cinema and the future of cinema.”
