A Century of Chinese Cinema, BFI

Chinese cinema is one hundred years old, though you’d hardly know it. As far as most of us are concerned, China’s film industry was kicked into action by Bruce Lee circa 1970; even the most seasoned arthouse patron will be largely unacquainted with the half-century of cinema that preceded him. Fast-forward to the present day, and you’ll find that of the “Chinese” filmmakers now winning international acclaim, around half – like Lee himself – aren’t from Mainland China, but from Hong Kong (Wong Kar-wai) or Taiwan (Ang Lee). East Asia’s turbulent 20th-century history has done much to disrupt the flow of Chinese films to the West – clearly there are gaps to be filled.
Which is where the BFI’s mammoth new retrospective steps in. A Century of Chinese Cinema is a five-month effort to trace the history of Chinese movie-making across ten decades and three territories. While the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwanese industries are often treated as distinct by historians, the BFI’s programme covers all three, in the process revealing the strikingly fluid movement of Chinese filmmakers between them. Which means that you’ll get to explore the punchy agitprop films of the Mao years, the Hong Kong-based Shaw Brothers’ funky kung fu romps, and Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang’s droll, deadpan dramas in equal measure.
The season is chopped up into five chronological chapters, stretching from the golden age of Shanghai cinema in the ’30s to the provocative cinema of today’s auteurs, such as Wong Kar-wai and Jia Zhang-ke (who recently made waves with his outrageous A Touch of Sin). Along the way, films of special importance will be spotlighted – we’re particularly looking forward to Fei Mu’s Spring in a Small Town, described by the BFI's head of programming as “the finest work from the first great era of Chinese filmmaking”. Its elegance and bold modernity will leave you wondering why it hasn’t reached our shores before. The good news? It’s only the tip of the iceberg.