Radio National Interview on Chinese Films at GOMA

Life amongst the ruins: Jia Zhangke's Still Life, screening at Brisbane's GOMA as part of the APT cinema program.

On Saturday 2 February 2013 I was interviewed by ABC Radio National's Jason Di Rosso about a pair of Chinese films playing at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).

The films are two of the greatest titles to come out of mainland China over the past decade. First up is Jia Zhangke's Still Life (2006), which won the Golden Lion at Venice. Jia's feature is screening with his rarely seen short Cry Me a River (2008). I wrote about Still Life for RealTime back in 2007, and Cry Me a River for the same magazine in 2009.

The second film screening at GOMA is Zhao Liang's stunning documentary Petition (2009), one of the most important works to come out of China's independent documentary world. I wrote about that film for RealTime in 2010. I also have a forthcoming article about Zhao Liang's work in the UK Journal of Chinese Cinemas, due out in March.

Both films are screening as part of the stunning film program accompanying GOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT). As well as Still Life and Petition, the program features a number of other rarely seen Chinese classics such as Wang Bing's 3-part documentary epic West of the Tracks (2003) and Edwards Yang's beautiful final film Yi Yi (2000). A vast array of other great titles from the Asia-Pacific region are also screening.

The complete APT film program is here.
 
There is also a huge program of Chinese animation screening as part of APT, covering work from the 1930s to the present. The complete animation program can be viewed here.
  
You can listen my Radio National inteview here - it starts about five minutes into the program.