ANG LEE FILM FESTIVAL SEPT. 24-26

ANG LEE FILM FESTIVAL SEPT. 24-26

Festival is a three-day, three-location event

Richardson, Texas (Sept. 22, 2009) — Ang Lee has been called one of today’s greatest contemporary filmmakers.

But before the Academy Award winning director brought us such films as “Taking Woodstock,” “Hulk” and “Brokeback Mountain,” he introduced film audiences to several  aspects of Asian culture – much of which is deeply rooted in China’s earliest history.

Now, The University of Texas at Dallas, Southern Methodist University and the Crow Collection of Asian Art proudly present an “Ang Lee Film Festival” that will showcase the director’s first three feature films that explore themes of aging, homosexuality and family roles in a changing modern society.

“Pushing Hands,” will be shown at 6:30 PM Thurs., Sept. 24, in the Jonsson Performance Hall at UT Dallas; “Wedding Banquet” will be shown at 7 p.m. Fri., Sept. 25, in the Collins Executive Education Center at SMU; and “Eat Drink Man Woman,” will be screened at noon Sat., Sept. 26, at the Crow Collection of Asian Art.

The screenings are free of charge and there will be a special program in conjunction with each film.

“Pushing Hands,” which was Ang Lee’s first feature film, is a story about an elderly Chinese tai chi chuan teacher and grandfather from Beijing who comes to the United States to live with his son and American daughter-in-law and their son. This film highlights the contrast between traditional Chinese and modern American ideas of family relationships. The elderly grandfather must learn to start a new life in a new country. A tai chi chuan demonstration will be held before the screening and a discussion  will be held after the film at UT Dallas.  For more information see ah.utdallas.edu/events.

“The Wedding Banquet” was released in 1993 and was nominated as the Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globe and the Academy Awards. This film is about a gay Taiwanese immigrant who marries a woman from mainland China to placate his parents. However the plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to meet the new bride and to arrange a traditional wedding banquet for the newlyweds. This film repeats Ang Lee’s theme of East meets West and the struggles to merge traditional Chinese values in a modern American society. A reception will be held before the screening and a panel discussion will follow the film at SMU. For more information visit smu.edu.

“Eat Drink Man Woman” which was released in 1994 explores one family’s struggles to maintain family traditional roles in a modern world. Food is the focal point of any major Chinese celebration and it is no different in this film. The relationship between a widowed master chef and his three daughters are played out at the dinner table, where the father expresses his love in the only way he knows how -- cooking. But family tensions prevent anyone from enjoying meal time and even the aging chef fears that he may be losing his ability to taste. Teresa Cheng, executive food designer of this film will discuss what it was like to behind the scenes during the making of “Eat Drink Man Woman” after the screening. For more information visit crowcollection.org.

For more information call 214-979-6430.