2010 Nov 12 Screen Time: NORDOX Brings Brothels, Burma and Chinese Businessmen to UCCA
The big news on the film front this week is the return of NORDOX, the annual showcase of Nordic Documentaries up at 798’s Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. Past years have featured a dazzling array of innovative filmmaking delving into the weird, the wonderful and downright disturbing.
The 2010 edition of NORDOX looks set to continue the tradition with 17 films touching on often controversial topics from around the globe. Highlights include Burma VJ – Reporting from a Closed Country, which examines how handycam wielding locals filmed and smuggled out footage of the 2007 uprising against the Burmese military junta. Director Anders Østergaard will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening this Saturday, November 13 at 7pm. The film will be repeated sans director on Tuesday, November 16 at 4pm.
On a very different front, Like a Pascha offers a peek into Europe’s biggest brothel in the German city of Cologne, which handles over 700 customers daily. The film asks what these men are really looking for in a world where “orgasm is guaranteed” for “only 30 Euro.” Like a Pascha screens on Friday, November 19 at 7pm, and Wednesday, November 24 at 5.30pm.
The Chinese are Coming tells the story of Chinese entrepreneur Mr. Luo arriving in the Swedish city of Kalmar with a multi-billion dollar investment plan. Initially greeted as a hero, Mr Luo and the locals find themselves entangled in an increasingly comical and absurd net of conflicts and cultural misunderstandings. The Chinese are Coming screens on Sunday, November 21 at 5.30pm and Thursday, November 25 at 4pm.
For the full program of NORDOX check out the UCCA website. The program runs until Thursday, November 25, and several directors will be present. All sessions are RMB 15/10 (students), and many sessions feature two films. All films will be screened with Chinese and English subtitles.
Also on the European cinema front, the EU Film Festival is in full swing, and continues until the end of November at various venues around town. You can find the mammoth full program here.
Finally, BC MOMA have another screening of Yang Rui’s strange experimental feature Crossing the Mountain, set on the China-Burma border, this Saturday, November 13 at 2pm. The film is in Wa Dialect with English and Chinese Subtitles. RMB 30.
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