Thursday, May 9 | 6 pm
Dr. Michael J. Anderson, Director of Curatorial Affairs, will introduce the screening.
Winner of the Best First Feature Prize at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival, An Elephant Sitting Still is a staggering landmark of new Chinese cinema and a tragic symbol of a promising life and career cut short: the film’s director, Hu Bo, took his own life at the age of 29 in October 2017. Shot in sinuous long takes, An Elephant Sitting Still unfolds over the course of a single day in a gloomy small town in northern China; it follows teenage Wei Bu, who goes on the run after accidentally injuring a school bully. Pursued by the bully’s gangster brother, Bu joins up with a group of town outcasts, including his lonely elderly neighbor Mr. Wang and his beautiful classmate Ling, who is reeling from a destructive affair with a teacher. Seeking respite from their burdens, this group is inextricably drawn to the nearby town of Manzhouli, where a circus elephant is reported to be sitting perfectly still, indifferent to the troubles of the world. A poetic epic that combines virtuosic style with immense emotional power, An Elephant Sitting Still is nothing short of a modern masterpiece.
Director Hu Bo | 2018 | In Mandarin with English subtitles | 230 minutes | NR | DCP