![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Sylvia-Chang.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA groundbreaking writer-director in a male-dominated industry and an improbably prolific international movie star of the first flight, Sylvia Chang is a one-woman dynamo of artistic activity whose triumphant career spans cultures East and West, genres, and disciplines. Her recent output includes musical comedy Office (2015), which she wrote and starred in for Johnnie To, and a poignant turn in Jia Zhangke\u2019s Mountains May Depart (2015). Born in Taiwan, Chang broke through as an ingenue in pop cinema, appearing in classical adaptations like gender-bending Qing-period love story The Dream of the Red Chamber (1977) and wuxia classics like King Hu\u2019s philosophical kung-fu tale Legend of the Mountain (1979). A performer of eloquent restraint and power, she won her first Taiwan Golden Horse Award as actress for My Grandfather (1981); went on to work with a pantheon of Chinese auteurs operating around the globe, including Tsui Hark, Edward Yang, Stanley Kwan, and Ang Lee; and emerged as a powerful filmmaking force in her own right, directing such elegant, nuanced works as 20 30 40 (2004), Murmur of the Hearts (2015), and Love Education (2017). Altogether it makes for an unprecedented career.<\/p>\n
Films Starring Sylvia Chang<\/p>\n
My Grandfather (O Chun-Hung\/1976\/84 mins\/35mm)
\nAfter suffering a breakdown at his wife\u2019s funeral, a grief-stricken older man finds that he can only recognize his daughter-in-law. The discovery of a new love seems to improve his faltering health, but more heartbreak awaits just around the corner. The wistful, world-wise film that won Chang her first Golden Horse and due acknowledgement as a serious actress to be reckoned with.
\nSat May 19, 12:45pm \u2013 2:09pm<\/p>\n
The Dream of the Red Chamber (Li Han Hsiang\/1977\/108 mins\/35mm)
\nChang, in one of the roles that helped cement her stardom, plays opposite Brigitte Lin in this colorful Shaw Brothers production, an ornate and operatic Huangmeixi musical adaptation of a classic novel of the Qing Dynasty, which has Lin, later a specialist in gender-bending parts, playing the male lead, a young nobleman hopelessly in love with Chang, the sickly daughter of another wealthy family, whom he is forbidden to marry.
\nSun May 27, 1:30pm \u2013 3:18pm<\/p>\n
Legend of the Mountain (King Hu\/1979\/191 mins\/DCP)
\nAlways the maverick, Hu was working entirely independently on Legend of the Mountain, heading into rugged terrain in South Korea to film this atmospheric, hypnotic work suffused with supernatural overtones, which tells the story of a secluded scholar confronted by two seductive specters\u2014including Chang, young and incredibly spry\u2014who threaten to draw his attention away from the sutra he\u2019s struggling to transcribe. One of the purest expressions of Hu\u2019s ethos, in which philosophy and action merge as one.
\nSat May 26, 1:00pm \u2013 4:01pm<\/p>\n
Aces Go Places (Eric Tsang\/1982\/93 mins\/35mm)
\nShattering Hong Kong box-office records on release and launching a beloved franchise, the first Aces Go Places is an action-comedy romp filled with jaw-dropping stunts, knee-slapping gags, and spy tech gadgetry. American detective Albert Au and slick cat burglar King Kong (Karl Maka and Sam Hui) team up to bring mysterious villain White Gloves to justice, all while trying to avoid the wrath of Chang\u2019s hot-headed police superintendent.
\nFri May 18, 9:15pm \u2013 10:48pm
\nWed May 23, 3:00pm \u2013 4:33pm<\/p>\n
That Day, on the Beach (Edward Yang\/1983\/166 mins\/35mm)
\nThe little-screened debut feature by Yang, the groundbreaking giant of the Taiwanese New Wave, shot by renegade cinematographer Christopher Doyle, features Chang and Terry Hu as two female friends brought together after a thirteen-year separation, their process of catching up illustrated through an innovative flashback structure which shows the director\u2019s flair for formal experimentation already fully in operation.
\nSun May 20, 1:00pm \u2013 3:46pm
\nSat May 26, 1:30pm \u2013 4:16pm<\/p>\n
Shanghai Blues (Tsui Hark\/1984\/103 mins\/35mm)
\nBeginning against the backdrop of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the inimitable Tsui Hark\u2019s kinetic, ultra-stylish slapstick comedy\/ historical romance\/ backstage musical is one of the most important works of Hong Kong cinema from the 1980s. It revolves around the star-crossed affair between Kenny Bee\u2019s nightclub clown and young damsel Chang, who meet-cute in a 1937 bombing and plan to find each other ten years later, only to have their reunion in devastated postwar Shanghai elaborately and often hilariously complicated by intervening fate.
\nSat May 19, 10:00pm \u2013 11:43pm
\nWed May 23, 7:15pm \u2013 8:58pm<\/p>\n
All About Ah-Long (Johnnie To\/1989\/95 mins\/35mm)
\nChang and Chow Yun-fat co-wrote and co-star in To\u2019s robust tearjerker as ex-lovers\u2014and parents of a child\u2014reunited after a decade apart. She\u2019s a successful director based in the U.S. unaware that her baby survived childbirth; he\u2019s a truck driver raising their son alone, trying to rekindle a lost love and win his son a better shot in life by going back into competitive motorbike racing. Bring tissues.
\nFri May 18, 6:30pm \u2013 8:30pm
\nTue May 22, 7:00pm \u2013 8:35pm<\/p>\n
Full Moon in New York (Stanley Kwan\/1989\/88 mins)
\nHong Kong cinema\u2019s first openly gay filmmaker, Kwan (Rouge, Center Stage), directs a beautifully-wrought melodrama distilling the experience of Chinese diaspora through the lives of three women living in New York: meek, tradition-minded Mainlander Gaowa Siqin; ruthless Hong Kong businesswoman Maggie Cheung; and Chang\u2019s Taiwan-born would-be actress. A rich and tender portrait of female friendship.
\nSat May 26, 7:00pm \u2013 8:28pm<\/p>\n
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke\/2015\/126 mins\/DCP)
\nChang, herself a specialist in multi-generational stories, is a benevolent guiding spirit in Jia\u2019s own deeply moving, epoch-spanning triptych, which begins with a love triangle in the director\u2019s hometown of Fenyang c. 1999, follows central character Zhao Tao into a prosperous life in the hyper-capitalist wilderness of 2014, then catches up with her estranged son, Dollar (Dong Zijan), in his new home in the Australia of 2025, as he seeks nurturing and understanding from Chang\u2019s older teacher.
\nSun May 27, 1:30pm \u2013 3:36pm<\/p>\n
Office (Johnnie To\/2015\/119 mins\/3D DCP)
\nChang reunited Johnnie To, primarily known for his action movies, to create the remarkable Office, a stylish, buoyant musical shot in 3D featuring grand, eye-popping set design reminiscent of Jacques Tati\u2019s classic Playtime. Adapted by Chang from her own stage play, Office takes place in an exquisitely realized high-rise where two new assistants attempt to climb the corporate ladder and please the head honcho\u2014a wickedly imperious Chang.
\nSat May 19, 2:30pm \u2013 4:30pm<\/p>\n
Films Directed by Sylvia Chang<\/p>\n
Xiao Yu (Sylvia Chang\/1995\/104 mins\/35mm)
\nChang directed Ren\u00e9 Liu, in her film debut, to an award-winning star turn as a Chinese girl who arranges for a mock marriage with an older American alcoholic (Daniel J. Travanti) in order to stay on with her boyfriend in New York. A strikingly compassionate drama that shows a rare understanding of both the immigrant plight and the bittersweet disappointments of old age, with top flight performances by both leads.
\nSun May 20, 7:15pm \u2013 9:30pm<\/p>\n
Tempting Heart (Sylvia Chang\/1999\/115 mins\/35mm)
\nPlayfully referencing its director\/ star\u2019s lengthy career, Tempting Heart is a tender melodrama features Chang as a filmmaker who, in preparing to shoot a romance, finds herself transported back to the memory of an old affair in the 1970s\u2014Gigi Leung plays the teenaged Chang character, with Takeshi Kaneshiro her former flame, and Karen Mok the best friend and confidante who loves her, too.
\nSat May 26, 4:45pm \u2013 6:40pm
\nSat May 26, 9:00pm \u2013 10:55pm<\/p>\n
20:30:40 (Sylvia Chang\/2004\/113 mins\/35mm)
\nTwenty-year-old Xiao Jie (Sinje Lee) is a Malaysian dreaming of pop stardom; thirty-year-old Xiang Xiang (Rene Liu) is a flight attendant sorting out a complicated love life; forty-year-old Lily (Chang) is a recent divorcee negotiating single life. Chang returns to a guiding preoccupation of her directorial career, generational schisms, with this personal drama of three Taipei women at three different milestone ages, distinguished by pitch-perfect performances and rare delicacy of feeling.
\nSun May 27, 7:00pm \u2013 8:53pm<\/p>\n
Murmur of the Hearts (Sylvia Chang\/2015\/119 mins\/DCP)
\nA painter (Isabella Leong) raised on an isolated island off the Taiwan coast but now living in Taipei with an aspiring boxer boyfriend (Joseph Chang) struggles to reconcile herself to her conflicted relationship with her late, absentee mother, working through the memories with her travel agent brother (Lawrence Ko). A poignant, profoundly emotional drama, and a sumptuous tribute by Chang to her homeland.
\nFri May 25, 4:15pm \u2013 6:15pm
\nSun May 27, 4:00pm \u2013 6:00pm<\/p>\n
Love Education (Sylvia Chang\/2017\/120 mins\/DCP)
\nInto her fourth decade in the film industry\u2014displaying a longevity almost unknown for actresses in Chinese-language cinema, or for that matter anywhere else\u2014survivor Chang has a unique understanding of how times change, a subject at the heart of this sensitive story of a teacher near retirement (Chang) drawn into a squabble with her mother\u2019s husband\u2019s first wife (Wu Yanshu) over where to bury the man\u2019s remains, all while observing the professional and romantic travails of her TV producer daughter (Lang Yueting).
\nSat May 19, 7:15pm \u2013 9:45pm
\nSun May 20, 4:00pm \u2013 6:00pm<\/p>\n
Co-presented with Taipei Cultural Center in New York, Ministry of Culture of Taiwan (R.O.C.). Special thanks to Patricia Cheng, Hong Kong Film Archive, Taiwan Film Institute, and Gordon Fung.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sunday, May 20, 7:15pm \u2013 XIAO YU followed by Q&A Metrograph, 13 Ludlow Street, New York NY 10002<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stay-connected-to-the-latest-local-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73110,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73109\/revisions\/73110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}