Shanghai Amateur Film Festival

February 11th, 2011, 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, ELC Learning Center
All-inclusive full-day tickets are RMB 575.

Join independent filmmakers, actors, writers, and film enthusiasts for this full-day celebration of film, featuring full-length screenings from four countries followed by a mini-award ceremony.  You can also observe and/or take part in the shooting of three scenes on location for our independent documentary-style film about living and working in Shanghai.  Advanced registration is required at www.shanghai-classes.com/event_registration.htm.

February 2012 Festival Details:

Realism in film strives to show ordinary people in ordinary circumstances, and yet somehow we feel that they are extraordinary.  Join us on this fascinating exploration through realism in film over the course of a full day on Saturday, February 11th.  There will be four screenings throughout the day, each featuring a film from a different country, and each will be followed by a mini workshop/lecture where we will explore together how each culture approaches the genre.  Participants can join into as few or as many of the screenings and activities throughout the day as they want to.  The screenings will consist of four classic full-length feature films, including

1) La Promesse, 1996, Belgium, directed by Luk Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
2) The Bicycle Thief, 1948, Italy, directed by Vittorio De Sica
3) A Dream Life of Angels, 1998, France, directed by Eric Zonca
4) Sideways, 2004, U.S.A., directed by Alexander Payne

In addition to the screenings and the mini-lectures, the Shanghai Amateur Film Festival is a rare opportunity to work under the guidance and direction of one of Shanghai's premier film directors, Zofie Feytons (please see her profile).  Zofie will lead a film crew in shooting three five-minute scenes in the Realism style.  Participants will be able to observe and participate in the shooting of these scenes as a professional production with real actors and technical crew.  Everyone is invited to try their hand at acting, directing, technical assistance, etc..

Throughout the day, participants will vote on the four films according the same criteria as the international film festivals followed by a symbolic and fun awards ceremony later in the evening.  Volunteers will also be asked to participate in the awards ceremony.  The Shanghai Amateur film festival is a fun-filled day to participate and contribute to something we are all passionate about, great films!

La Promesse: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117398/
La Promesse draws on the considerable documentary acumen of its directors, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Rosetta), to prove a revelation in narrative filmmaking.  Shot on the outskirts of an industrial city in Belgium, the film follows Igor (Jeremie Renier), the 15-year-old son of a single parent named Roger (Olivier Gourmet) who rents squalid apartments to recently arrived immigrants, many of them illegal.  As Igor struggles to hold down odd jobs while assisting his father in crooked dealings, the Dardenne brothers plunge the audience into the thick of difficult issues – immigration, cultural and racial bias, bureaucratic injustices–without overtly politicizing or diminishing any of their characters.  When Igor promises to help a young African woman, he finds he must choose between loyalty to his father and his own conscience.  The beauty is in how the Dardenne brothers seem to share in the viewer's curiosity about the film's outcome, having captured a world so charged yet unadorned you feel the surprise of each new scene alongside the directors.  An extraordinary film that bears repeated viewings. –Fionn Meade

The Bicycle Thief: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522/
Bicycle Thieves (Italian: Ladri di biciclette, also known as The Bicycle Thief) is a 1948 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica.  It tells the story of a poor man searching the streets of Rome for his stolen bicycle, which he needs to be able to work.  The film is based on the novel of the same name by Luigi Bartolini and was adapted for the screen by Cesare Zavattini.  It stars Lamberto Maggiorani as the poor man searching for his lost bicycle and Enzo Staiola as his son.  The film is frequently on critics' and directors' lists of the best films ever made.  It was given an Academy Honorary Award in 1950, and, just four years after its release, was deemed the greatest film of all time by the magazine Sight & Sound's poll of filmmakers and critics in 1952.  The film placed sixth as the greatest ever made in the latest directors' poll, conducted in 2002.

The Dream Life of Angels: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120449/
In Lille, Isa (Élodie Bouchez) and Marie (Natacha Régnier), two penniless young women with few prospects, become friends.  Isa moves in with Marie, who's flat-sitting for a mother and child in hospital in comas following a car crash.  Living on the fringes of society, the girls develop an intense emotional bond which profoundly affects both their lives.

Sideways: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/
Miles is a floundering writer living an emotionally meager existence in San Diego as an English teacher.  With his career in stagnation, a divorce that he is far from over, and the fate of his book hinging on a publisher's decision, he is caught in the grips of unworthiness and frustration.  Jack is a waning Hollywood actor who struggles with unworthiness and insecurity in his own more-decadent way, especially now that he's about to marry for seemingly all the wrong reasons.  The two friends embark on a road trip through California's wine country, where Miles wants to give his friend a nice sendoff before married life.  But Jack is hell bent on philandering, as the film explores the failing relationships the characters have with themselves and others.
 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT

Registration Procedure:
Please register online first to reserve your place.  After submitting your registration, you will receive a confirmation email within 24 hours.  Payment days for ELC events usually fall on the last Friday and Saturday of the month for the following month's events.  Your confirmation email will have detailed payment and other information for your specific event.  Please note: Register early to reserve your place.  Payment must be received on time to complete your enrollment and maintain your reservation in the event(s) for which you have registered.