3.11 (Sun) 14:00-16:00 60 Days of Maruyama and Ji Lei

60 Days of Maruyama and Ji Lei

Directors: Mike Shang, Ayako Inagaki

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 87 minutes

Contemporary Chinese artist Ji Lei and Japanese artist Junko Maruyama are collaborating on an artwork. Maruyama, from Yokohama, Japan, utilizes found objects in her work to explore the themes of “life, death, reincarnation, and love.” Ji Lei, an artist from Chengdu, is skilled at using oil painting, installation, and photography to create work that teases out the metaphorical and unconscious aspects of everyday life. Prior to the project, neither has stepped foot in the other’s country, but now, Maruyama will live in China, and Ji will live in Japan, each for a period of two months. Although China and Japan have a long history of cultural exchange, the recent wars in which they were embroiled have created a rift that has still not been closed, causing both artists to feel a combination of familiarity and unease with their new surroundings.

Mike Shang (Director)

During his 16 years of experience in television production, Mike Shang has cooperated with both Chinese and foreign television stations, including CCTV, Travel Satellite TV, France 24, ARTE, ZDF, and ORF. In 2014 and 2015, Shang’s documentary films, When Water Meets Oil—China-Japan Artist Exchange Program and To Live for Food, were shown on the NHK WORLD Channel in Japan.

Tae Yamamoto (Producer)

Tae Yamamoto is a producer for independent film and television. After spending six years directing Japanese news programs, Tae Yamamoto moved to Beijing to study Chinese, then returned to Japan, where she lives and works today. In collaboration with the NHK and other non-governmental television stations, she helped film a number of news reports and documentaries. Tae also participated in the filming of the Chinese-Japanese documentary When Water Meets Oil—China-Japan Artist Exchange Program, and Taiwanese director Huang Yin-yu documentary’s After Spring, the Tamaki Family.

Ayako Inagaki (Director)

Ayako Inagaki is a director who has worked in the Japanese production company PAO NETWORK since 1999. Inagaki creates documentaries focusing on social issues such as the history of unjust prison convictions, or the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. In 2014, she helped shoot the documentary When Water Meets Oil—China-Japan Artist Exchange Program, produced in collaboration with a Chinese production company, and broadcast on the NHK WORLD channel.

CNEX MOVIES

Since 2017, CNEX has collaborated with a variety of screening organizations nationwide to present CNEX MOVIES, showing the latest contemporary films as well as important foreign titles that have yet to be introduced to China. CINEX MOVIES offers a brand-new movie viewing experience, organizing each screening by theme, providing background information for films, and encouraging audience members to discuss their thoughts and give feedback to the directors at the end of screenings.

PAO NETWORK