Offscreen. Vol 11, Issue 1.

"Two of Offscreen's pet subjects make up the bulk of this first issue of 2007, Asian and Canadian cinemas," writes editor Donato Totaro, who also has a piece on online viewing: "The evolution of film exhibition has, in a sense, come full circle."

Mike Archibald:

The Dragons and Tigers Programme at the Vancouver International Film Festival has long been in the forefront for the reception of East Asian cinema in the English-speaking world. Under the stewardship of programmer Tony Rayns, the section has brought many Westerners into first contact with filmmakers like Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Tsai Ming-Liang, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Hong Sang-Soo. As East Asia has risen to prominence in the world cinema scene in the last 20 years, many of its leading lights have had their Western debuts here in Vancouver. There is a double sadness to report this year, however: this is Rayns' last year programming Dragons and Tigers and, unfortunately, this year's line-up left something to be desired. The lack of quality in the featured films had several factors behind it - certain titles couldn't be acquired, according to reports; several past masters showed signs of slipping (Tsai, Jia and Apichatpong all turned in inferior product this year); and the prevalence of amateurish and derivative "indie" fare, for starters. But I think the malaise seen at this year's D&T event speaks to a much larger problem, one with implications that reach beyond East Asian film into the larger realm of international art cinema. The problem is one of film style.

Also: After discussing nuts-and-bolts issues (e.g., what's "indie" in China?), Archibald asks Tony Rayns about this stylistic tendency.

Peter Harcourt: "Somewhat like Godard's eight-part video essay, Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988-1998), [Jean Pierre] Lefebvre's five-part L'Âge des Images (1993-1995) addresses the failure of cinema to sustain its early promise - Godard in terms of the high culture of 19th-century aesthetics; Lefebvre in terms of the social caring that characterized the early cinema of Quebec."

Posted by dwhudson at February 25, 2007 9:17 AM