“A great film, one that will be watched as long as there are people who care about the movies as an art” – Chicago Tribune
As Taiwan rebuilds in the aftermath of World War II and returns to Chinese rule after 50 years of Japanese occupation, a family scratches out a living in a burgeoning township. But there is a storm gathering on the horizon, fuelled by a ruthless administration and a brewing battle between Communist and Nationalist forces.
Family, history, memory and politics become intensely, unbearably entwined in A City of Sadness, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s magisterial saga on the birth of modern Taiwan. A testament to human resilience in the face of forces we cannot control, this is the ultimate distillation of Hou’s style – an enthrallingly complex epic of vast, irrepressible ambition.
Screens on a new 35mm print produced in 2009 commemorating the film’s 20th anniversary.
Don’t miss the Queensland Premiere of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s APSA-nominated The Assassin screening during BAPFF 2015.
