Chinese Consulate Warns Film Festival on ‘Harmful’ Offering

18 April, 2012 at 08:06 | Posted in China, Culture, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, human rights, persecution | Leave a comment
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‘Free China,’ a film about the persecution of Falun Gong, was targeted

By Matthew Robertson
Epoch Times Staff

A Chinese consulate in the U.S. has contacted the Palm Beach International Film Festival to warn them about a “harmful” movie they will screen that documents the violent persecution of a Chinese spiritual practice by communist authorities.

The consulate in Houston repeatedly called an organizer of the film festival making “inquiries” about the film, according to a spokesperson who did not want to be named, in a telephone interview with The Epoch Times. “They called asking questions, telling us that they thought it would be potentially harmful to them,” the individual said.

The consular official was told that “We’re in America,” according to the individual, and that the film would be shown nevertheless.

Michael Perlman, the filmmaker, understood the calls from the consulate to be an attempt at censorship. “This brazen attempt to silence free speech and expression of an American citizen in the United States by the Chinese government is dangerous and must be exposed so that these actions will not be repeated,” he was quoted as saying in a press release emailed by New Tang Dynasty Television, a co-producer of the documentary.

The documentary that aroused the phone calls is titled Free China: The Courage to Believeand was directed by artist and activist Michael Perlman. It will be screened publicly for the first time at the Palm Beach International Film Festival on April 14 and 16. Perlman is also the director of the 2008 film “Tibet: Beyond Fear,” which is about Chinese communist repression in Tibet.

“Free China” documents the persecution of Falun Gong, a popular Chinese spiritual practice, through the stories of two adherents who have been incarcerated and tortured by Chinese authorities because of their beliefs.

Calls to the switchboard and political and media affairs office of the Chinese consulate in Houston rang unanswered on the morning of April 16.

via Chinese Consulate Warns Film Festival on ‘Harmful’ Offering | Regime | China | Epoch Times

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Movie Review: ‘The Monkey King—Uproar in Heaven’

8 April, 2012 at 08:00 | Posted in Chinese culture | Leave a comment
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Chinese legendary tale brilliantly remastered in 3-D

By Joe Bendel

Wan Laiming was the Walt Disney of China. Unfortunately, his long-planned masterwork finally came to fruition on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Just as the second part of his animated adaptation of the Ming-era novel “Journey to the West” was released to general acclaim, the Chinese film industry was shuttered for reasons of ideological madness.

Recognized as one of the greatest Chinese animated features ever, Wan’s complete “The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven” has been meticulously restored, frame-by-frame, and converted to wide-screen 3-D. Su Da and Chen Zhihong’s “Monkey King” restoration had its North American premiere screenings during the 2012 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Being in fact a monkey, the Monkey King is perfectly suited to animation. Supernaturally powerful, he happily leads the monkey tribe of Flower Fruit Mountain, but his rambunctious nature attracts celestial attention. On the orders of the Jade Emperor, the Monkey King is whisked up to the heavens, only to be given a dubious title and shunted off to a harmless corner of the cosmos.

The Monkey King does not play that game, though; he creates quite the ruckus before returning to his clan on Flower Fruit Mountain. However, the beings of the higher realm consider his rebellious drive a threat and will not leave well enough alone.

Often thought to be influenced by Hindu deities, the Monkey King clearly fits the Trickster archetype. While he eventually settles down in the source novel, the film features him at his most uproarious. Frankly, some of his moves prefigure several signature sequences from the “Matrix” franchise. He is also quite proficient with his magical staff, delivering plenty of satisfaction for martial arts fans.

However, the look of Wan’s film, by way of the Su and Chen’s restoration, is truly remarkable. It has a rich lushness, but there is also a mystical vibe that resists comparison to other films. It is also hard to describe the film’s color palette, but it is quite distinctive (and a testament to the filmmakers’ restoration efforts).

Read more: Movie Review: ‘The Monkey King—Uproar in Heaven’ | Movies & TV | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch Times

….

A Mother’s Grief or Joy at the Ascension?

2 June, 2011 at 07:11 | Posted in classical, Culture, Music, Spirituality | Leave a comment
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Was it with sadness or joy Mother Mary saw her son Jesus do the ascension? Sadness at having to part from her beloved son or joy that he ascended into the Light? Or both?

Anyhow, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater is so beautiful…

Have you seen The Philosophy of Beauty? Very watchable film in six parts on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjhVaLbBglQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAZDiKJIroU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfEOtcH3Lk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRfuyOM_jYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsLk6DrHktc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqiHEmejxNA

Here in the sixth section, you can see the philosopher Roger Scruton speak about Stabat Mater and Pergolesi. Starts at 03:51.

Philosopher Roger Scruton presents a provocative essay on the importance of beauty in the arts and in our lives. In the 20th century, Scruton argues, art, architecture and music turned their backs on beauty, making a cult of ugliness and leading us into a spiritual desert. Using the thoughts of philosophers from Plato to Kant, and by talking to artists Michael Craig-Martin and Alexander Stoddart, Scruton analyses where art went wrong and presents his own impassioned case for restoring beauty to its traditional position at the centre of our civilisation.

Really nice little film :-)

16 May, 2011 at 09:10 | Posted in Culture, Funny things :-) | Leave a comment
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Film: ‘Awakening’ in World Premiere

20 April, 2011 at 10:53 | Posted in Culture, Spirituality | Leave a comment
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By Gary Feuerberg
Epoch Times Staff

WASHINGTON—Awakening, a new 82-minute film by Shen Zhou Film Studio, will have its world premiere at American University. Director Hong Wei and part of her production team will be on hand to meet with the audience and answer questions.

According to Shen Zhou Film studio, Awakening is about three immortals descending to the world from the heavens, reincarnating lifetime after lifetime for a thousand years. During this time, they live as royalty, peasants, and lastly as modern day individuals. Amid delusion and tragedies, they struggle to maintain their sacred vows to one another, while searching for the meaning of life on earth. With the way back to heaven finally within their grasp, they face the hardest challenge of their several lives.

Awakening won praises at the fourth international 2011 Taiwan Film Festival in February. Among members of the audience in Taiwan were movie directors and playwrights. Some commented that Awakening had a flowing story line. One director said it captured the audience and engaged them to think beyond what was shown. He added that the artistic form of this movie was that of “a beautiful picture.”

Read more: ‘Awakening’ in World Premiere | Arts Entertainment | Epoch Times

Shake the world movie (Full DVD Eng Sub)

12 April, 2011 at 16:34 | Posted in China, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, human rights, persecution, slave labor camps | Leave a comment
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“Shake the World” reveals the initial stages of the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal persecution of Falun Gong started in July 20, 1999.

It tells the story of Ding Yan, a typical Falun Dafa practitioner as she takes us through the first days of the persecution of Falun Gong, the Beijing News Conference held by Falun Gong practitioners in China on October and the Guangzhou Fa Conference in November 1999. Ding Yan is eventually persecuted to death at the hands of the police after suffering brutal physical and mental torture.

The persecution of Falun Dafa by the Chinese communist party has claimed the lives of thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners. All were violently tortured for refusing to relinquish their belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. They lost their lives but they left behind everlasting smiles and compassionate hearts.

Through the ages mankind has pondered: Where are we from? And to where are we going? Countless people have pursued the answer to this eternal question.

With a courtyard of gorgeous flowers, the spring has her master. The windstorm continues through the night, but there is no need to worry.

“Shake the World” reveals both the horror of the persecution and the beauty of Falun Gong practitioners’ uncompromising spirit.

( http://www.shenzhoufilm.com has approved for this movie to share online widely )

Scandinavian Film Festival Introduces Pay-Per-View

24 March, 2011 at 08:48 | Posted in Culture | Leave a comment
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By Mikael Iso-Oja & Aron Lamm
Epoch Times Staff

Between May and July, Canadian and U.S. audiences will be treated to what may be the world’s first-ever “pay-per-view film festival,” The Scandinavian Film Festival.

Scandinavian films, which would otherwise only be shown at film festivals and European movie theaters, will now be broadcast into North American homes for between $6 and $8 per film.

In recent years, interest in Scandinavian storytelling has greatly increased. For example, author Stieg Larsson, whose posthumous “Millennium” trilogy has taken the world by storm, with sales figures only surpassed by best selling author, Dan Brown.

The first of the American remakes of the incredibly popular Millennium books—the David Fincher-directed, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”—is planned to hit U.S. theaters this year. Danish director Susanne Bier’s critically acclaimed, “Golden Globe,” and Academy Award winning, “In a Better World,” is another Nordic success story.

Read more: Scandinavian Film Festival Introduces Pay-Per-View | Arts Entertainment | Epoch Times

Falcons, USA and Bin Ladin

17 March, 2011 at 20:27 | Posted in Culture, Nature | 2 Comments
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Feathered Cocaine – Very interesting documentary about the foul play and the sham that is going on. And about a man with conscience. Swedish subtitles. Shown until 14:th of April.


1st collector for Falcons and Terrorists
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Chinese film on 1960 labor camps cheered in Venice

9 September, 2010 at 09:00 | Posted in Culture, slave labor camps | Leave a comment
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By Silvia Aloisi

VENICE (Reuters) – A powerful Chinese film on the plight of political prisoners condemned to forced labor camps in the late 1950s wooed critics in Venice on Monday, with some tipping it as a strong contender for the festival’s top prize.

“The Ditch” tells the little-known story of some 3,000 people deported for “re-education” to labor camps on the edge of the Gobi desert, in western China, and struggling to survive extreme climate and acute food shortages.

Billed as right-wing enemies by the government for even mildly criticizing the Communist party or simply because of their background, many died of starvation, disease and exhaustion in the ditches that served as dormitories.

Director Wang Bing spent three years tracking down survivors and wardens of the Jiabiangou and Mingshui Camps for the film, a surprise entry in the main competition line-up that was only revealed on Monday.

“For 10, maybe 20 years, independent Chinese cinema has focused above all else on the social problems of the poorest working classes in contemporary China,” Bing says in the production notes.

“The Ditch is perhaps the first film to deal directly with contemporary China’s political past, talking as it does about the ‘Rightists’ and what they endured in the re-education camps. It’s still a taboo subject.”

The film, warmly applauded at a press screening, is unlikely to be released in its home country, where authorities remain sensitive about how such topics are portrayed.

Still, Bing said he hoped the film would be an opportunity for younger Chinese like him — he was born in 1967 — to learn about their country’s past.

“I wanted to talk about our history, past events that can be criticized because of the way in which the Chinese suffered, and show them so that people can reflect on them,” he told reporters, speaking through a translator.

DOCUMENTARY STYLE

Shot like a documentary, The Ditch focuses on the last three months of life in an annexe camp where the 1,500 prisoners who had survived until then were moved in 1960, as drought ravaged the whole of China.

Read more: Chinese film on 1960 labor camps cheered in Venice – Yahoo! News

Most Dangerous Man in America – A Film about Moral Courage

4 June, 2010 at 15:55 | Posted in Culture | Leave a comment
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Most Dangerous Man in America

American documentary from 2009. Oscar-nominated thriller about Daniel Ellsberg, the insider who through leaking top-secret documents turned public opinion against the Vietnam War in the U.S. and saved the love of his life.

Look at it here until 30 June! At SVT Play. It’s in English with Swedish subtitles.

A multifaceted film that touches.

Riveting! A straight-ahead, enthralling story of moral courage. This story changed the world.  The movie offers one revelatory interview after another. CRITICS’ PICK!
- David Edelstein, New York magazine

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The Horse Boy – A Film About a Miracle

14 May, 2010 at 20:54 | Posted in Children | Leave a comment
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This is a very interesting documentary recently shown on Swedish Television. It’s about a couple of parents who travel from USA to Mongolia with their autistic son, in order to get some help from shamans.

It will be shown until 11:th of June. It’s in English with Swedish subtitles.

Take the chance and see it!

Click on the link to see the film: The Horse Boy

Heaven on Earth

23 February, 2010 at 16:10 | Posted in Nature | Leave a comment
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This film really touches my heart. This planet can be heaven or hell. This is heaven… on Earth…

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