Chinese Portraits

March 5–17, 2022

A collection of narrative and documentary works on artists, writers, and ordinary citizens in China, presented in conjunction with the Townsend Center’s In Dialogue with China: Art, Culture, Politics.

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  • Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue

  • Chinese Portrait

  • So Long, My Son

  • Abode of Illusion: The Life and Art of Chang Dai-chien (Zhang Daqian) (1899–1983)

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • So Long, My Son

    • Thursday, March 17 7 PM
    Wang Xiaoshuai
    China, 2019

    Wang’s unforgettable family portrait tackles the tragic implications of China’s one-child policy in epic form. “So measured is the pacing, so sinuous the timeline, so understated the subtle ache of the performances . . . [the film performs] the emotional equivalent of open-heart surgery” (Guardian).

  • Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue

    • Thursday, March 10 7 PM
    Jia Zhangke
    China, 2020

    Three of China’s greatest living authors share their stories and memories in Jia’s tribute to storytelling and the connection between intellectual thought and working-class labor. “A spiritual depiction of China. Illuminating” (South China Morning Post).

    Carma Hinton and Andrew F. Jones in Conversation

  • Chinese Portrait

    • Wednesday, March 9 7 PM
    Wang Xiaoshuai
    China, 2018

    Roughly sixty carefully composed shots of citizens and their environments, recorded over ten years across China, comprise this formal masterpiece, a photo album of an entire nation’s decade. From the director of Beijing Bicycle.

    Introduced by Andrew F. Jones

  • Abode of Illusion: The Life and Art of Chang Dai-chien (Zhang Daqian) (1899–1983)

    • Saturday, March 5 7 PM
    Carma Hinton, Richard Gordon
    United States, 1994

    The creators of the classic documentary The Gate of Heavenly Peace turn their attention to the work and legacy of one of the greatest, most fascinating twentieth-century painters, Chang Dai-chien (Zhang Daqian). 

    Carma Hinton and Winnie Wong in Conversation