June 25 (Sunday) 14:00-16:30 The Foolish Bird (118 min) screening and Q&A

June 25 (Sunday) 17:00-18:30 The Shoe-shiner’s Journey (76 min)

The Foolish Bird

Director: Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka

Genre: Documentary

Country: China

Length: 118 min

“Why do you want to enter the Police Academy?” “Because it sounds safe.”

For the sake of her absent mother, 16-year-old Lynn attempts to get into the local police academy. Meanwhile, she keeps her head above water financially by getting caught up in some shady business involving stolen cell phones. When her only friend May suddenly stops being in touch, the introverted student is haunted by the feeling that her life is spiraling out of control. Money is an all-pervasive topic in her environment. Surrounded by corruption, sexual violence and the omnipresence of new media, Lynn searches for a path through the labyrinth of the present. Precise images tell a story of the isolation and lack of perspective prevalent in a small city in today’s China.

The Shoe-shiner’s Journey

Director: Li Xiaofeng and Jia Kai

Genre: Documentary

Country: China

Length: 75 min

Old Liu Guangjian is travelling China, living in a three-wheeled truck, trying to revive the “Learn from Lei Feng” movement by becoming his incarnation. But his own past catches up with him along the way. Liu’s personal past and present are intimately intermingled with the past and present of the nation; their intersections constantly move forward like the spinning wheels of Liu’s van. The film is interspersed with sand-painting scenes that set Liu’s struggles for us in a kind of calligraphic stillness. The director’s own role is provided through diary-like excerpts in his own voice. A humorous, melancholy, and intimate film.