Thursday, April 26 5:00 P.M. – Bell Auditorium   Director: Ye LouChina/France, 2006 – 140 Minutes   It is the mid-1980s, and teenage Yu Hong leaves her village, her family and her boyfriend to study at Beijing University. There she discovers a very different world, and falls passionately in love with fellow student Zhao Wei. But though their relationship soon comes to overwhelm everything else in their lives, the weight of history soon pulls them apart - their story, like those of so many others, overwhelmed by the massacre in Tiananmen Square.

Featuring a level of sexual and political frankness unprecedented in mainland Chinese cinema, Lou’s fourth feature was banned by his country’s government days before its Cannes premiere. It is shown here uncut: a groundbreaking film, and a masterful integration of editing, art direction and sound design, by one of the most important and accomplished Chinese directors working today. From the maker of Purple Butterfly and Suzhou River.

(In Mandarin & German with English subtitles)

(Edinburgh Film Festival)

Cast: Xueyun Bai, Lin Cui, Long Duan, XiaodongGuo, Lei Hao, Ling Hu, Chi Le, Xianmin Zhang

Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Consortium for the Study of the Asias.