MAGGIE CHEUNG MASTERCLASS
Cannes-garlanded actress, action heroine, model, superstar, muse, latter-day Anna Karina, polyglot: Maggie Cheung’s career is amongst the least predictable in modern cinema.
In the 80s she was the girlfriend in a score of action flicks and romcoms. Clara Law’s Farewell China (1990) gave her onscreen persona nuance and Days of Being Wild (1991), the second of four collaborations with Wong Kar-wai, began her canonisation. She spun and seduced in Raymond Lee’s astonishing Dragon Inn (1992), and was a writhing object d’art in Tsui Hark’s kinetic Green Snake (1993). Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996) was deeply moving, in the same year’s Irma Vep she played herself (and cinephile France swooned), and then came world acclaim for In the Mood for Love (2000) and the balletic extravagance of Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002).
Cinema China and Filmhouse are absolutely delighted to welcome one of modern cinema’s greatest film actresses exclusively to Edinburgh, where she will introduce films and, in this masterclass, talk to Mark Cousins about her life and work.
Edinburgh Filmhouse / 10th march / 2pm |
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XIE FEI MASTERCLASS
Director Xie Fei is not as well known in the West as Zhang Yimou or Chen Kaige, but he was an inspiration for both and his remarkable films from the 1990s made him famous at home. Xie’s early career was stalled by the Cultural Revolution but, afterwards, he emerged as an auteur alert to female subjectivity and the complexities of Chinese life. His Black Snow (1990) won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, The Women from the Lake of Scented Souls (1993) won the Golden Bear, and A Mongolian Tale (1995) won Best Director in Montreal.
Part of their appeal was Xie’s feel for the wide open spaces of the Northern Chinese steppes and grasslands which his characters are not able to abandon in spite of the lure of modern cities and easier lives. Xie is also a professor at the Beijing Film Academy. We are honoured to welcome him exclusively to Edinburgh and to introduce his wonderful films to UK audiences.
Edinburgh Filmhouse / 18th march / 2pm
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