#sylviachang

The month has wrapped, thus concluding the seventh month of my 2016 Women’s Cinema Project. I’m tracking well toward my goal of 120 pictures for the year with 72 pictures so far. I’m excited I’ve made it through so many great pictures this year and still so many cinematic treasures ahead. Time for reviewing each picture as I watch them however is getting tighter and tighter with the other obligations in my life, but I will continue to strive do so.

When I sat down and mapped out the pictures I wanted to watch from women directors of East Asia, I had no clue how difficult these pictures were going to be to track down. Only two of the pictures I set out to watch were available from my local video store and most of them I found available on YouTube, some even VHS rips, and by other means on the internet. In spite of the lack of available hard copies, I constantly shifted the selections and continued researching titles from women directors of East Asia until I found just the right titles I could watch.

Focusing on China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea I watched pictures about grief, heartbreak, and immigration. These pictures also cover homosexuality, abortion, and economics. I spotlighted two pictures starring Doona Bae, both of them nearly fifteen years apart. I revisited a Hong Kong master and was introduced to the talents of Isabella Leong and Mika Ninagawa.

The pictures and the directors behind them illustrate the situations women face almost daily. Even a quasi-action picture focusing on an Vietnamese soldier features heavily how immigrant women are kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. These are pictures of vastly varying styles yet they are all boldly told pieces.

And now...

9. Spider Lilies (2007, dir. Zero Chou)

8. Helter Skelter (2012, dir. Mika Ninagawa)

7. The Mourning Forest (2007, dir. Naomi Kawase)

6. A Girl at My Door (2014, dir. July Jung)

5. The Story of Woo Viet (1980, dir. Ann Hui)

4. Take Care of My Cat (2001, dir. Jeong Jae-eun)

3. Murmurs of the Heart (2015, dir. Sylvia Chang)

2. Lost in Bejing (2007, dir. Li Yu)

1. Boat People (1982, dir. Ann Hui)