Ateneo celebrates Chinese New Year with the 10th Spring Film Festival
Now on its tenth year, the Ateneo de Manila University’s Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies together with the Cultural Section of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Confucius Institute, Film Development Council of the Philippines, and Credit Suisse, and the cooperation of Ateneo Celadon and Shangri-La Plaza, once again brings you the Spring Film Festival this January 29 to February 7, 2016.
The film festival is organized every year to promote Chinese language and culture in mainstream Philippine society, particularly among young Filipinos, so that they may become bridges between the Philippines and China.
Admission is free.
Featured Movies
Coming Home
Coming HomeComing Home
Running Time: 1:49
Acclaimed director Zhang Yimou is back once again with “Coming Home”. This drama stars Gong Li and Chen Daoming. Zhang Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) and Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) were a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu was arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner, while his wife got injured in an accident. Released during the last days of the Cultural Revolution, he finally returned home only to find that his beloved wife had amnesia and barely remembered her past. Unable to recognize Lu, she patiently waited for her husband's return. A stranger alone in the heart of his broken family, Lu Yanshi was determined to recover their past life together and also his wife's memory.
Angel Vera
Angel VeraAngel Vera
Running Time: 1:25
This film is adapted from the real experience of Liu Jiada (Vera), an 8-year-old Italian girl who becomes addicted to Beijing opera after visiting China with her mother. She later makes friends with female martial arts actress Yu Xiaoqi and students from an arts school, including Koko (Guogou), Kubi, and others. With the encouragement of her friends, this determined young girl braves many difficulties, and gains entrance to the school, finally realizing her dream, and also helping her friends and her teachers to attain their dreams. In her performance, Vera stages a great opera performance as a normal student from the school and becomes a Beijing opera performer.
Qiu Xi
Qiu XiQiu Xi
Running time: 1:42
The story takes place in wartime Guangzhou before the country’s liberation by the Communist Party of China in 1949. A young woman named Qiu Xi is a “boat person”, or Tanka, living in the coastal area of Guangdong Province. Qiu Xi, played by actress Jiang Yiyan (Nanking, Nanking), becomes a servant to Yan Haiqing, played by actor Guo Xiaodong (Summer Palace, An Empress And The Warriors). She finds herself falling for the undercover communist agent who works with the Kuomintang regime that ruled China until 1949. The story unfolds as the two fall for each other but are kept at distance because of the wartime situation.
Wild Horse from Shangri la
Wild Horse from Shangri laWild Horse from Shangri-La
Running Time: 1:18
Geza runs like the wind. In his village on the Tibetan Plateau, friends and family call him “Wild Horse”. But Geza’s little sister was born with a congenital heart disease, and the doctor says that she will die without an operation. Unfortunately, the medical expenses are astronomical for Wild Horse’s poor family. By chance, Wild Horse learns that a marathon is being organized in the province’s capital city. The champion will win a prize that could help save his sister’s life. The competition will take place in four days, but the village where Wild Horse lives is almost 800 kilometers away from the capital city. For the sake his sister, Wild Horse decides to run to the city. On his way, he encounters great dangers, but he also encounters kind people who help and encourage him. After many twists and turns, Wild Horse finally runs in the competition. Although he fails to win the championship, his wish comes from true.
East wind Rain
East wind RainEast Wind Rain
Running Time: 1:50
This film stars international star, Fan Bingbing. This period drama is set in Shanghai during the 1940s. Communist spy An Ming (Liu Yunlong), learns through his Japanese source, Nakanishi Masahiro (Miura Kenichi), a fellow communist, that Japan is to attack Pearl Harbor. However, following the assassination of two members of his unit, An Ming has no way of transmitting the unbelievable information to his superiors. Nakanishi subsequently receives confirmation of the attack in a coded weather broadcast on Japanese radio ("East wind, rain") and also hears that a roll of film containing major information is secretly on its way to him from a fellow high-level sympathizer, Ozaki Hidemi (Dong Cheng), in Tokyo. On the night of 7 December, Nakanishi is arrested, the roll of film goes missing, and the Japanese declare war on the U.S., next day taking over the whole city. In the subsequent weeks, a battle of wits ensues between Japanese intelligence head Fujiki Yoshio (Takemoto Takayuki) and An Ming and his colleague Hao Birou (Li Xiaoran), a teacher at a refugee hostel, as both sides try to trace the roll of film. An Ming also comes under pressure from his new liaison officer, Fang Qianmo (Yu Rongguang), and from his girlfriend, nightclub singer Huanyan (Fan Bingbing), to leave Shanghai, but he refuses until his job is done.
At That Summer
At That SummerAt that Summer
Running Time: 1:30
Tan Yan was a kind and honest young man. He lent his house to his cousin Li Quoqiang. Li wa, an ignorant and incompetent man. He gathered a group of people at Tan Yang’s house to gamble, making a number of troubles. To avoid being caught by the police and the loan sharks, Li Quoqiang ran away. Tan Yang had no choice but to look after Liu Liu, the pregnant girlfriend of Li Guoqiang. Tan Yang and Liu Liu solve many difficult problems with combined efforts. As time passes, they eventually fall in love with each other.
Full Circle
Full CircleFull Circle
Running Time: 1:45
This comedy-drama is about a group of rebellious senior citizens. The setting is a town in Ningxi, Northern China. Ge (Xu Huanshan) is a retired bus driver in his mid-70s whose son by his first marriage (Han Tongsheng) doesn't talk to him, and whose second wife, who died six months ago, willed their flat to her own son. Forced to move out, Ge goes to stay with his old friend Zhou (Wu Tianming), another retired bus driver, who shares a room with the crazy Jin (Niu Ben) at Guanshan Nursing Home. Depressed at how his life has ended up, Ge contemplates suicide, but is given hope by the other elderly people of the nursing home. Zhou has recruited some of them into performing a comic sketch he hopes to use when joins a Japanese TV competition, which is situated in Tianjin. During their rehearsal, one of their members was injured, and the nursing home's head (Yan Bingyan) forbids them to go to Tianjin. But Zhou is not dissuaded so easily, so he and Ge, along with friends, plotted a secret plan to "escape".
Lost in Thailand
Lost in ThailandLost in Thailand
Running Time: 1:45
Director Xu Zheng follows the success of Raymond Yip's Lost on Journey with this rambunctious sequel that became China's highest-grossing film of all time. It traces the rivalry between two ambitious business managers in competition for a revolutionary new technology. Having recently played a crucial role in developing a new fuel called “Supergas”, energy-company executive Xu (Xu Zheng) seeks to patent his creation before his crafty associate Bo (Huang Bo) beats him to the punch. But in order to do so, Xu will first need to gain control of the stakes being held by elusive chairman Zhou, who's currently on vacation in Thailand. Meanwhile, Bo, too, has managed to track down Zhou, and he's determined to reach Thailand first. And he might just succeed, because when overzealous cook Wang (Wang Baoqiang) becomes Xu's unlikely traveling companion, his obsessive quest quickly becomes an outrageous comedy of errors.
Back to 1942
Back to 1942Back to 1942
Running Time: 1:46
A North Henan landlord in China embarks on a pilgrimage to Sha’anxi province during the 1942 famine, struggling to survive as war with Japan looms on the horizon. His house beset by starving villagers, Landlord Fan (Zhang Guoli) endeavors to calm the crowd by preparing a feast. But his house is burned down in the chaos, prompting Fan, his teenage daughter Xingxing (Fiona Wang), his servant Shuanzhu (Zhang Mo), and his tenant Huazhi (Xu Fan) to embark on a treacherous journey south. Along the way, encounters with an American journalist (Adrien Brody), and a priest (Zhang Hanyu) who has lost his faith reveal the true depth of the despair that grips the country. All of these hardships prompt Fan to make some devastating sacrifices that leave him a broken man. Meanwhile, the Japanese government attempts to turn the Chinese people away from their government by offering them sustenance, while the Chinese government finds themselves forced to choose between feeding their troops or the masses.
Say Yes
Say YesSay Yes
Running Time: 1:44
Movie setting is in Shanghai, the present day. Star Taiwanese cellist Yeh Shun, played by supermodel Lin Chi-ling, is set up by her best friend, bridal dress-shop owner Taozi (Qin Hailu), on a blind date with a rich businessman, Zhao (Wang Xun). By mistake, however, she meets blue-collar handyman Huang Da (Huang Bo), who is separately on a different blind date, to meet a woman called Tan (Chen Ran). After they resolve their misunderstanding, each meets their planned dates - still in the same restaurant, where it turns out that Huang Da already knows Zhao. A person who turns out still owes him over RMB100,000 (US$16,000) for construction work on his mansion. When Zhao's suspicious wife (Jiang Xiwen) suddenly turns up, Yeh Shun pretends that Huang Da is her date. While driving him home, she learns that Huang Da was on his 99th blind date: he's almost given up trying to find a partner. When Yeh Shun urges him to keep trying and to believe in himself, Huang Da falls for her on the spot. How will this odd partnership develop into something more meaningful?
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Sponsors of this festival include: JP Morgan, Richprime Global Inc., W Group Inc., CATS Greenhills, Flexo Marketing, Raphyten Marketing, First Estan Trading, Teresa Marble, Anna Pashmina, Chatime, Trans World Trading Company Inc, Monster RX93, Chinoy TV, Rappler and ANC News. Institutional partners: Xavier University- Ateneo de Cagayan University, Ateneo de Davao University, University of San Carlos, Ateneo de Ilo-ilo- Santa Maria Catholic School, University of Baguio, Baguio Patriotic High School, Central Luzon State University.
For more information, please call Ateneo de Manila University Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies at 426-6001 locals 5208, 5209, 5280 and 5284. For tickets, please call Shang Cineplex at 633-2227.