New Chinese film The Eight Hundred (八佰) in Pittsburgh, from August 28.

The new Chinese film The Eight Hundred (八佰) will play in Pittsburgh from August 28. From the distributor:

The film is based on true stories taking place during Sino-Japanese war in Shanghai, China, in 1937, the battle and protection of the Si Hang Warehouse. There are around 400 soldiers (so called Eight Hundred Heroes in history), holding out against numerous waves of Japanese forces for 4 days and 4 nights…….

It opened nationally in China on August 21 and will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and tickets are available online. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

"Dance Like a K-pop Star" with Fanxy and Pitt Program Council, August 28.

The University of Pittsburgh's Program Council will host "Dance Like a K-pop Star" on August 28, though tickets are no longer available and sold out quickly.

Join the Pitt Program Council as we invite South Korean Dance Team Fanxy in an hour-long k-pop dance class! Students will feel like they're a part of BTS of Blackpink after learning dance routines and basic moves that are a huge part of making the iconic K-Pop stars shine, all from the comfort of their apartments or dorm rooms! Join us virtually via Zoom for a dancing experience like no other - no prior experience required. Students will be admitted from the Zoom waiting room starting at 9:45 pm, and no students will be admitted to the event after 10:05 pm. Tickets are available starting August 22, 2020 and will remain available for reservation until August 26, 2020.

Those interested in working with Fanxy can still book an online class through its website.

The Korean Peninsula and the U.S. Commitment to the Region, September 30 with World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh will host "The Korean Peninsula and the U.S. Commitment to the Region" online on September 30.

Is North Korea the nation posing the greatest threat to the U.S.? Why do we need to pay attention to what’s happening in the Korean Peninsula? Amidst COVID-19 and its fallout, policymakers are confronted with newly emergent issues alongside pre-existing ones. As the pandemic spreads, US-North Korea talks remain stalled, inter-Korean relations persist as mostly one-sided, and North Korea has continued to test and refine its military capabilities as well as ratchet up its rhetoric, and COVID-19 has intensified a growing US-China strategic competition. From a decades-old military alliance to deep economic ties and a large and vibrant Korean-American community, the linkages between the United States and the Korean Peninsula remain as important as ever.

The Stimson Center and Stimson’s 38 North program, working with the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, presents a dialogue to discuss the importance of the US commitment to the Korean Peninsula. Speakers include: (Ret.) Walter Sharp, former Commander, US Forces Korea (2008-2011) and former President of the Korea Defense Veterans Association (KDVA), Jenny Town, Stimson Fellow & Deputy Director of Stimson’s 38 North, and moderated by Clint Work, Stimson Fellow & Security for a New Century & 38 North.

The talk runs from 2:00 to 3:00 pm online and is free and open to the public. Registration can be completed online.

Online preview and panel discussion "Harbor from the Holocaust," on European Jews who fled to Shanghai in the 1930s, with WQED, September 3.

An online preview and panel discussion of the upcoming WQED feature "Harbor from the Holocaust" will take place on September 3 with the station's Jim Cunningham.

Be among the first to preview this documentary produced by WQED for PBS. It shares the story of nearly 20,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during WWII to the port city of Shanghai. You'll hear their extraordinary recollections and unique relationship with their adopted city.

This preview will be followed by a panel discussion with Pittsburghers with ties to this poignant story. Rivaling all elements and in tragic contrast to those who could not escape, this is a Holocaust story of life.

The free event starts at 7:00 pm and those interested can register here.

An Ant Strikes Back (アリ地獄天国) wins second biennial University of Pittsburgh Japan Documentary Film Award.

The 2019 Tokachi Tsuchiya documentary An Ant Strikes Back (アリ地獄天国) has won the second biennial University of Pittsburgh Japan Documentary Film Award, it was announced on the 14th. A synopsis, from Nippon Connection:

More than 5,000 people died from the ramifications of overworking in Japan between 2006 and 2017 – and this is only the official number. Rarely do Japanese employees stand up against exploitative working conditions, since the social pressure is too high. In his documentary, Tokachi TSUCHIYA follows the case of a moving company sales agent who decides to no longer accept illegal employment contract clauses and a humiliating work environment. Initially being just like an ant among others, he joins a labor union and fights not only for his own rights, but for the rights of all “ants” in Japan’s workforce.

The Nanako Hirose film Book-Paper-Scissors (つつんで、ひらいて) claimed Honorable Mention. A ceremony was planned prior to COVID-19 shutdowns, though it remains to be seen what events will celebrate the 2020 award.

Crazy Rich Asians free at drive-in theater in South Park, August 28.

The movie Crazy Rich Asians will play outdoors in South Park on August 28 as part of the county's "Drive-In Date Night" series of films that are free and open to the public. (This is two weeks later than originally announced by the county.) A summary of the film, from the distributor:

"Crazy Rich Asians” follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) as she accompanies her longtime boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding), to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore. Excited about visiting Asia for the first time but nervous about meeting Nick’s family, Rachel is unprepared to learn that Nick has neglected to mention a few key details about his life. It turns out that he is not only the scion of one of the country’s wealthiest families but also one of its most sought-after bachelors. Being on Nick’s arm puts a target on Rachel’s back, with jealous socialites and, worse, Nick’s own disapproving mother (Michelle Yeoh) taking aim. And it soon becomes clear that while money can’t buy love, it can definitely complicate things.

Gates open at 7:00 pm and the movie starts at dusk. Spaces are first-come first-served, and the gates will close once the parking lots are full.

New Chinese film The Eight Hundred (八佰) in Pittsburgh, from August 28.

The new Chinese film The Eight Hundred (八佰) will play in Pittsburgh from August 28. From the distributor:

The film is based on true stories taking place during Sino-Japanese war in Shanghai, China, in 1937, the battle and protection of the Si Hang Warehouse. There are around 400 soldiers (so called Eight Hundred Heroes in history), holding out against numerous waves of Japanese forces for 4 days and 4 nights…….

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and tickets are available online. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

BTS concert film Bring the Soul: The Movie back in Pittsburgh, from August 28.

The 2019 BTS concert movie Bring the Soul will play in Pittsburgh from August 28.

On the day following the final concert of their Europe tour, on a rooftop in Paris, BTS tells their very own stories from experiencing new cities to performing in front of thousands of ARMY across the globe. A glimpse into BTS’ world away from the stage, featuring intimate group discussions alongside spectacular concert performances from the tour, this is a cinema event not to be missed.

It enjoyed a lengthy run in local theaters last year. It will play in Pittsburgh at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark in Robinson, and tickets are available online.

"Sake: Beyond the Basics" online with Japan America Society of Pennsylvania, August 26.

by Masayuki Igawa

The Japan America Society of Pennsylvania will host "Sake: Beyond the Basics," a virtual tasting and discussion, on August 26.

Dive into the world of sake with this lecture and go beyond the basic distinction of junmai and honjozo. Deb Mortillaro, certified sake sommelier, will guide us through how five elements - the rice, the region, the water, the yeast, and the brewer - combine to create unique flavors, even within the same grade of sake. We will learn how those elements are reflected in the labels so you can become a more confident sake connoisseur. This class is a practical tasting, covering Ishioka, Mighty Peak Tokubetsu Junmai;Housui, Fragrant Water Tokubetsu Junmai; Echigo Ikarashi-Gawa, Blue River Ginjo; and Hakuyou, White Sun Junmai Ginjo. For Pittsburgh-area participants, order & pick up your sake directly from Dreadnought Wines at 412-391-1709 ($64 for four 300ml bottles, optional).

Those interested in the 6:30 pm session can register and pay the suggested donation online.

Susan Choi talk with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, online on September 14.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will host author Susan Choi online on September 14 as part of this year's Ten Evenings series.

The author of five novels, Susan Choi won the 2019 National Book Award for Trust Exercise, an ingenious meditation on fiction and truth, friendships and loyalties, the capacities of adolescents, and the powers of adults.

In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls — until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down.

Choi’s first novel, The Foreign Student, won the Asian American Literary Award for fiction. Her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a film. A Person of Interest was a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2010, Choi was named the inaugural recipient of the PEN/W. G. Sebald Award. Her fourth novel, My Education, received a 2014 Lammy Award.

Tickets for the 7:30 pm event are now available: $10 for students and $15 for the general public.

2019 Chinese documentary Our Time Machine (时光机) online via Carnegie Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema, from September 11.

The 2019 Chinese documentary Our Time Machine (时光机) will be available online via Carnegie Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema from September 11. The film played in Pittsburgh last fall as part of the Three Rivers Film Festival. From the film's official site:

Shaken by the news of his father’s dementia, artist Maleonn creates “Papa’s Time Machine,” a wondrous time-travel adventure performed on stage with life-size mechanical puppets. Through the play’s production, he confronts his own mortality. Maleonn finds grace and unexpected joy in this moving meditation on art, the agonies of love and loss, and the circle of life.

Pitt's Daehwa Korean Conversation Club (한국어 대화 동아리) to resume online, from September 4.

The University of Pittsburgh's Daehwa Korean Conversation Club will hold its meetings and activities online for the fall 2020 semester. THe first meeting of the term is September 4.

"The Influence of Japanese Ceramics," online with Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, August 19.

via Guerrero Ceramics.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will host local artist Jeff Guerrero and his talk "The Influence of Japanese Ceramics" on August 19.

Why have western ceramic artists continuously looked to Japan for inspiration over the past century? How has the American craft revival been influenced by traditional Japanese aesthetics and ethos? Join ceramic artist and educator Jeff Guerrero for a journey through the history of Japanese ceramics and its influences on Western art.

2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) with Pitt's Office of International Services, August 19.

The University of Pittsburgh's Office of International Services will present an online viewing of the 2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) on August 19 as part of Watch Party Wednesdays, open to the Pitt community. The distributor provides a summary:

From Academy Award®-nominated Hiromasa Yonebayashi – animator on Studio Ghibli masterpieces Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo, and director of When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty – comes a dazzling new adventure about a young girl named Mary, who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night.

Mary is an ordinary young girl stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte and seemingly no adventures or friends in sight. She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest, where she discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in that forest. Together the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College – a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try to set things right.

Based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 classic children’s book The Little Broomstick, Mary and The Witch’s Flower is an action-packed film full of jaw-dropping imaginative worlds, ingenious characters, and the simple, heartfelt story of a young girl trying to find a place in the world.

The movie starts at 7:00 pm and is open to the Pitt community with registration.

2006 Vietnamese film Journey from the Fall (Vượt Sóng) online with Pitt's Asian Studies Center, August 12.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present the 2006 Vietnamese film Journey from the Fall (Vượt Sóng) online on August 12 as the next installment of its Summer Screenshots: Hot Nights/Cold War film series. A synopsis, from the film's official site:

"The Americans have broken their promise. They have left us."
(Long Nguyen, South Vietnamese resistance fighter)

Inspired by the true stories of Vietnamese refugees who fled their land after the fall of Saigon—and those who were forced to stay behind, Journey From The Fall follows one family’s struggle for freedom.

April 30, 1975 marked the end of Vietnam's two-decade-old civil war and the start of the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees. Despite his allegiance to the toppled South Vietnamese government, Long Nguyen (as Long Nguyen) decides to remain in Vietnam. Imprisoned in a Communist re-education camp, he urges his family to make the escape by boat without him. His wife Mai (Diem Lien), son Lai (Nguyen Thai Nguyen) and mother Ba Noi (Kieu Chinh) then embark on the arduous ocean voyage in the hope of reaching the U.S. and freedom.

Back in Vietnam, Long suffers years of solitary confinement and hard labor, and finally despairs that his family has perished. But news of their successful resettlement in America inspires him to make one last desperate attempt to join them.

The online presentation starts at 5:30 pm and includes a live Q and A with Ham Tran, the film's director. Those interested should register online.

Authors Caroline Kim & Alexander Chee (online) with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, October 7.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will host authors Caroline Kim & Alexander Chee for a virtual discussion on October 7.

2020 Drue Heinz Literature Prize winner Caroline Kim in conversation with author and guest judge Alexander Chee

Exploring what it means to be human through the Korean diaspora, Caroline Kim’s The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories feature many voices. From a teenage girl in 1980’s America, to a boy growing up in the middle of the Korean War, to an immigrant father struggling to be closer to his adult daughter, or to a suburban housewife whose equilibrium depends upon a therapy robot, each character must face their less-than-ideal circumstances and find a way to overcome them without losing themselves. Language often acts as a barrier as characters try, fail, and momentarily succeed in connecting with each other. With humor, insight, and curiosity, Kim’s wide-ranging stories explore themes of culture, communication, travel, and family. Ultimately, what unites these characters across time and distance is their longing for human connection and a search for the place—or people—that will feel like home.

Of the collection, Wendy Hinman for Foreword Reviews writes, “Worth savoring, the stories of The Prince of Mournful Thoughts are intimate, often wistful portraits set amid the stifling and conflicting expectations of families and cultures.”

The free event starts at 6:00 pm and tickets are now available.

A Girl Missing (よこがお), Patema Inverted (サカサマのパテマ), We Are Little Zombies (ウィーアーリトルゾンビーズ) continue at Row House Cinema through August 13, part of Japanese Film Week.

The Japanese films A Girl Missing (よこがお), Patema Inverted (サカサマのパテマ), We Are Little Zombies (ウィーアーリトルゾンビーズ) will continue online at the Row House Cinema through August 13, part of the theater's Japanese Film Week. Tickets and showtime information is available online.

"The Influence of Japanese Ceramics," online with Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, August 19.

via Guerrero Ceramics.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will host local artist Jeff Guerrero and his talk "The Influence of Japanese Ceramics" on August 19.

Why have western ceramic artists continuously looked to Japan for inspiration over the past century? How has the American craft revival been influenced by traditional Japanese aesthetics and ethos? Join ceramic artist and educator Jeff Guerrero for a journey through the history of Japanese ceramics and its influences on Western art.

August Book Club: Miracle Creek by Angie Kim, August 27 at Maridon Museum.

Butler County's Maridon Museum will read and discuss Miracle Creek by Angie Kim in its August Book Club meeting on August 27. A brief synospis, from the author's site:

In the rural Virginia town of Miracle Creek, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine—a pressurized oxygen chamber that patients enter for therapeutic “dives” with the hopes of curing issues like autism or infertility. But when the chamber mysteriously explodes, killing two people, a dramatic murder trial upends the Yoos’ small community.

The meetings will be held in person from 3:00 to 4:00 pm but will also have a Zoom component for people not comfortable gathering at this time. Those interested in registering should call 724-282-0123 or email info@maridon.org. The Maridon Museum is an Asian art museum in Butler County that holds frequent movie screenings, classes, and book club meetings, in addition to the art exhibitions that take place when there isn't a pandemic.

TBT: Rina Sawayama in Pittsburgh.

via @deltafoundation and Mark Simpson Photography

Rina Sawayama has been in the news for the British Awards exclusion, and was very briefly in the local news here last year when she opened for Toni Braxton at last June's Pride Rocks PGH concert.


via @deltafoundation and Mark Simpson Photography