Still Life March 21, 2008

“Jia Zhang-ke is one of the leading filmmakers of our time. His works advance the art of cinema in ways that are dazzlingly innovative.”—Shelly Kraicer, Cinema Scope

Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival, Still Life is the most accomplished movie to date by one of the new masters of world cinema, Jia Zhang-ke (The World). Using the Three Gorges Dam project (which is flooding entire villages and historically important regions out of existence), Still Life shows the effects and psychological costs of China’s relentless conversion to capitalism and “progress.” Jia combines landscape and narrative in ways that are rivaled only by Michelangelo Antonioni (Blowup, Red Desert) at his peak. (108 mins., 35mm)

Official Website: http://www.wexarts.org/fv/index.php?eventid=2803