Monday, September 19, 2016

Kung Fu Series at Row House Cinema, September 23 - 29.



Four movies will play at the Row House Cinema's Kung Fu Series from September 23 to 28: the 1978 Jackie Chan movie Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (蛇形刁手), the 1972 Bruce Lee movie Way of the Dragon (猛龍過江), 1967's Dragon Inn (龍門客棧), and 1971's A Touch of Zen (俠女).

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Taiwanese movie 52Hz, I love you at Carnegie Mellon University, November 5.



The Taiwanese movie 52Hz, I love you, directed by Wei Te-sheng, will play at Carnegie Mellon University on November 5, and will be followed by a discussion with the film's cast. The movie's official website provides a bit of background:
“52Hz” is a very unusual frequency that sings by the loneliest whale in the world which was detected in the Pacific Ocean. The mysterious pitch is like no other; the song sounds like crying out for companionship that never comes. However, the
Taiwan film “52Hz, I love you” features that even though in the hustle and bustle of Taipei, city life should not be millions of lonely people living without love.
The event's page provides additional information:
"52Hz, I love you" is the newest Taiwan film directed by Wei Te-Sheng, ranked as one of the most popular Mandarin-speaking directors in 2014. The City of Pittsburgh is working with another 50 cities in the U.S. and Canada on 60 screens and taking the privilege to screen it in November 5, 2016, as well as inviting Taiwanese cast to join the after-screening discussion. On the way home from the screen, you might find yourself humming those bittersweet songs just like those characters do with happiness.
The screening is part of what is being billed as I See Taiwan Film Festival ("看見台灣"電影展), is preceded by a presentation and discussion of Taiwanese opera, and is followed by a discussion with the film's cast. The day's events begin at 2:00 pm in Auditorium Baker Hall A51 (map), and the movie starts at 3:00. All are free and open to the public.

Ryoji Ikeda's DATA.MATRIX at Wood Street Galleries, September 23 - December 31; live set on Friday.


via artist's official site.

An audiovisual installation by Japanese sound artist Ryoji Ikeda will be on display at the Wood Street Galleries downtown from September 23 through December 31. His official site explains DATA.MATRIX:
matrix is a series of sound installations employing pure sine waves and white noises as a sculptural material. The installations are designed in response to specific gallery spaces or public sites selected by Ikeda. Sine wave are one of the purest forms of sound, white noise contains the full frequency spectrum randomly. As visitors pass through the sound field, subtle oscillation patterns occur around their ears, caused by their own movements interfering with the sounds. It is a very personal experience, and only through the visitors' physical engagement in the sound space can the real character of the work be perceived.
Ikeda will play a live set on September 23 at 10:00 pm at Pierce Studio in the Cultural District (map).

Ikeda's DATA.TRON was at the Wood Street Galleries in 2013. Wood Street Galleries is located at 601 Wood St. (map).

Friday, September 16, 2016

"Understanding the Background & Academic Preparation of Students from Chinese Cultures" at Pitt, September 23.

Meiyi Song, of the University of Pittsburgh's University Center for Teaching and Learning, will present a talk on "Understanding the Background & Academic Preparation of Students from Chinese Cultures" on September 23, as part of a series to highlight diversity and inclusion at the university. The talk runs from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in 223 David Lawrence Hall (map) and is free and open to the public (registration required).

Thursday, September 15, 2016

2016 Chinese computer-animated motion capture movie L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties (爵迹) in Pittsburgh, from September 30.



The 2016 Chinese computer-animated motion capture movie L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties (爵迹) will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater from September 30. The distributor provides a brief plot summary of the movie starring Fan Bingbing and Kris Wu:
A long time ago, a determined King Zhou, supported by his concubine Daji, sets his mind on conquering the Middle Kingdom. After years of slaughter, the unyielding Adept tribes have been eliminated in succession. Jiang and General Ji from Qishan are King Zhou's longstanding opponents.
The movie premieres in China and the US on the 30th, and will play here in Mandarin with English subtitles. Tickets and showtime information is not yet available via the theater's website. 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.

Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu (傷物語II 熱血篇) at Hollywood Theater, from October 22.



The Hollywood Theater in Dormont announced on Monday that it will have three screenings of the 2016 Japanese animated movie Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu (傷物語II 熱血篇) on October 22, 23, and 25.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

2016 Korean zombie movie Train to Busan (부산행) in Pittsburgh, September 30 to October 6.



The 2016 Korean hit zombie movie Train to Busan (부산행) will play at the Parkway Theater in McKees Rocks from September 30 to October 6. A July 21 New York Times review summarizes:
The setup is lean and clean. A flattened deer, mowed down in a quarantine zone in Seoul where some kind of chemical spill has occurred (echoes of Bong Joon-ho’s 2007 enviro-horror film, “The Host”), springs back to life. Then, in just a few swiftly efficient scenes, we meet a harried hedge-fund manager and his small, sad daughter (Gong Yoo and an amazing Kim Su-ahn), see them settled on the titular locomotive and watch in dismay as a vividly unwell last-minute passenger lurches onboard. And we’re off!

Sprinting right out of the gate, the director, Yeon Sang-ho, dives gleefully into a sandbox of spilled brains and smug entitlement. (“In the old days, they’d be re-educated,” one biddy remarks upon spying an undesirable fellow traveler.) As zombies chomp and multiply, an assortment of regular folks face them down while furthering an extended critique of corporate callousness. The politics are sweet, but it’s the creatures that divert. Eyes like Ping-Pong balls and spines like rubber — I’d wager more than a few chiropractors were required on the set — they attack in seizures of spastic energy. They’re like break-dancing corpses.
The theater is located at 644 Broadway Ave. in McKees Rocks (map), a few miles west of the North Side.

Japanese garage rock band Guitar Wolf (ギターウルフ) at Hard Rock Cafe tonight, September 14.



Japanese garage rock band Guitar Wolf (ギターウルフ) will play at Hard Rock Cafe tonight, September 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Korean movie A Girl At My Door (도희야) in Pittsburgh, September 18 and 20.



The 2014 Korean movie A Girl At My Door (도희야) will play in Pittsburgh on September 18 and 20 as part of this year's Silk Screen Film Festival. The Vancouver Queer Film Festival provides a summary of the film, starring Doona Bae (배두나) and a 14-year-old Sae-ron Kim (김새론):
A brilliant, gritty and complex psychodrama that received a three-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, this powerful film by writer-director July Jung presents a stunning reflection on immigration, rural life, addiction and abuse—and the heartbreak of finding no safe refuge in family or law. Young-Nam, an outsider with an unspoken scandal, is sent from Seoul to a small village to take over as police chief, and is soon drawn into the personal dramas of the locals. When her ex-lover arrives, Young-Nam’s defense of a girl in the town becomes suspect. Doona Bae (Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending, Sense8), revered as one of the best actors of our time and a “performer who can convey everything that needs to be said,” is luminous in her portrayal of a woman stubbornly seeking justice, even as she drinks a little too much shoju on the side. Kim Sae-ron is also exceptional as Dohee, capably maneuvering extremely satisfying plot twists while embodying the brutality she’s lived through at the hands of her father. A beautifully done, sometimes disturbing, and ultimately exquisite film, July Jung’s A Girl at My Door captures the fantasies and hopes of two people finding hard-won redemption.
The movie plays at 8:00 pm on the 18th and 20th, both nights at the McConomy Auditorium in the Jared L. Cohon Center on the Carnegie Mellon University campus (map). Tickets are available on the Silk Screen Film Festival website.

Japanese movie Twisted Justice (日本で一番悪い奴ら) in Pittsburgh, September 18 and 24.



The 2016 Japanese movie Twisted Justice (日本で一番悪い奴ら) will play in Pittsburgh on September 18 and 24 as part of this year's Silk Screen Film Festival.

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