A Century of Chinese Cinema

...She rises gently, her hair tousled by the wind; gracefully, she picks up a handkercheif and wipes her brow; sunlight catches the wall across from her and lingers there for a while. - Yang Fudong

An important component of the programme is the main gallery exhibition, which runs from June 7 to August 11 in an exhibition curated by TIFF’s Noah Cowan and Shanghai-based curator Davide Quadrio. Yang Fudong’s New Women, a 5-channel video installation, is a new commission from the internationally-renowned visual artist. The work is inspired by the decadent atmosphere of Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s, a period that has been captured in some of the best-loved Chinese films (several of which are a part of the A Century of Chinese Cinema programme) and remains influential among Chinese artists – and filmmakers in particular – today. The work examines the East-meets-West blend for which Shanghai was (in)famous via the nude form and examines how women, and ideas about women, have represented China’s search for modernity over the past hundred years. As a part of the TIFF Cinematheque Free Screen series, our continuing free series dedicated to experimental film and video works, we will also be presenting Yang Fudong’s first feature film, An Estranged Paradise in a new 35mm print. Yang Fudong is represented by ShanghART in Shanghai and Marian Goodman Gallery in New York and Paris.

Exhibition view