From the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies:
Par of the Emergent Visions series
Date: Friday, October 7, 2011, 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Readymade: A Documentary about Mao Impersonators
With film director Zhang Bingjian
Although Chairman Mao died 35 years ago, he lives on in the form of his impersonators. This documentary is about two ordinary middle-aged individuals who make a career out of their physical likeness to Mao. The first, a farmer from Mao’s hometown studies at the Beijing Film Academy with his family’s support and the dream of playing Mao on the big screen. The second, a housewife struggles to overcome her husband’s aversion toward her new career. Through their lives and performances, the film presents trenchant insights into the legacy of the “Great Helmsman” in today’s China.
The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Zhang Bingjian.
Born in Shanghai, Zhang Bingjian graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982 and received an MFA degree from the University of South Carolina in 1993. He directed a feature film Suffocation in 2004 that starred the well-known actor Ge You and was the first Chinese psychic film to be released nationwide. It was also screened at international film festivals worldwide. Readymade is his first documentary.
The film is in Chinese with English subtitles Free and open to the public Cosponsored with the CCK Foundation Inter-University Center for Sinology Contact: jieli@fas.harvard.edu
Location: CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room, S020, 1730 Cambridge Street, Harvard University