To celebrate the Lunar New Year, the Chicago-based Sophia’s Choice and Asian Pop-Up Cinema will present a Happy Chinese New Year free streaming series for U.S. and Canadian viewers, as well as local Drive-in screenings in Chicago. The series streams February 1-15, and is sponsored by the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago.
Three North American premieres will be screened alongside some recent favourites from China. THE ROAD OF CHINA, LIFE OF BUDA and SPRING CITY will make their US debut, while encore screenings of the anthology film My People, My Country, an exploration of Alzheimer’s in Being Mortal and Wei Shujun’s Striding into the Wind will appear at the festival.
“Continuing with our tradition of celebrating the Chinese New Year with some Chinese films with significant cultural and historical aspects,” said Sophia Wong Boccio, the festival’s Founder and Executive Director “we are happy to present three films that have never before exhibited in North America. This is also the first time we are making this Chinese New Year-themed program accessible by our Canadian friends too! Please enjoy!”
Movies can be streamed for free using Smart Cinema USA (smartcinemausa.com) anywhere in the U.S. and Canada starting 1 February through 15 February before they expire at midnight CST. All films will be in Mandarin or local dialects with English subtitles. You can find all the info on the films at asianpopupcinema.org.
The Road of China
Directors Sebastian Valcic, Joseph Dwyer, Corine Tiah, Protopopova Evgeniia, David Moreno, Fernando Augusto Pereira and Dmitry Konoplov collaborate as part of the ‘Looking China Youth Film Project.’ Involving 100 international youth from 35 countries specially invited to visit China’s 11 provinces, each participant was expected to produce a 10 minute documentary. This edition includes pieces from Spain, Russia, Singapore, United States, Germany, Brazil and beyond.
Striding into the Wind
Following its selection at Cannes 2020, Wei Shujun’s film has been impressive people across the festival circuit over the last year or so. Described by the Sydney Film Festival as what happens when “Chinese cinema gets its hipster-slacker groove on,” it follows a filmmaker as he journeys into the landscapes of Inner Mongolia. Inspired by Wei Shujun’s own experiences, this is the follow-up to his much-lauded On the Border short film.
Life of Buda
Variously known as The Road to Bud or Bude’s Road, Lu Jian’s film is based on the true story of the grassland hero Buda. It shows the historical changes in Tibet’s social development from before the peaceful liberation to the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and from reform and opening up to the new century.
Spring City
He Yanqing’s documentary explores the locales of Kunming, which enjoys the reputation of being called the titular “Spring City”. It is the capital of Yunnan Province, a gateway city to Southeast Asia and South Asia. The director takes on the role of tourist to record what he sees in Kunming from a first-person perspective.
My People, My Country
The seven part anthology film from 2019 brought together directors Chen Kaige, Zhang Yibai, Guan Hu, Xue Xiaolu, Xu Zheng, Ning Hao, and Wen Muye to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. With historic and contemporary stories, the experiment was so successful that it was followed-up the next year with My People, My Homeland, a film that unapologetically bathes rural Chinese life in a golden glow.
Being Mortal
Director Liu Ze explores one of the growing issues in China: an ageing population with an increased prevalence of Alzheimer’s. Xia Tian transfers her job back to her hometown in order to take care of her dad who gets Alzheimer’s for over ten years. She thought it will be a comfort for her parents, but as the disease gets worse, the stress of life she gets to learn, and the only thing she can do is just wait.
