Day and Night (Ri ri ye ye)
This delicate study integrates a Sixth Generation critique of China's new industrial miracle with a calculated celebration of the beauty of a ruined world. Set against the background of unregulated coalmining in northern China, the protagonist Guansheng must deal with an unquiet conscience when his mentor, Zhongmin, dies in a mine explosion. Zhongmin's ghost returns with a request which motivates Guansheng out of his lethargy but which will try him to the depths of his soul. Wang Chao's film builds its quietly enthralling ghost story into an exploration of the elusiveness of freedom, the enduring nature of bad faith, and the aching gaps between the past and the present in contemporary market-driven China. For his film, Wang Chao drew inspiration from The Book of Rites, a great Chinese classic that tells of night and day, yin and yang, of life following death, and death bringing forth life.
Day and Night confirms Wang as one of China's foremost talents following his debut, The Orphan of Anyang.
Screens With
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When
9:15 PM Saturday, 19 February
Buy Tickets Online
Greater Union - Cinema 1
Ticket Price
Full price $14
Industry $12
SPU Concession $10
As Part Of
General FeaturesAbout Day and Night
95 minutes35mm
with English subtitles
Print Source
Onoma
Cecile Penavayre
cecile.penavayre@onomainternational.com
Awards
Gold Montgolfier (First Prize) and Special Prize, 3 Continents Nantes Film Festival 2004Festivals
CJ Asian Independent Film Festival 2004Films From the South Film Festival 2004
Palm Springs Film Festival 2004
Pusan International Film Festival 2004
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2004
About the Director
Wang Chao
Wang Chao was born in 1964 in Nanjin, China. After graduating from college, he spent five years working as a labourer, writing poetry in his spare time. In 1994, he received his degree from the Beijing Film Academy. From 1995 to 1998, Wang Chao worked with Chen Kaige as an assistant director on Farewell My Concubine and The Emperor and the Assassin. Wang Chao's first film, The Orphan of Anyang, was adapted from one of his short stories.
Filmography
Day and Night (2004)The Orphan of Anyang (2001)