Karamay is a staggering documentary about a tragedy that killed nearly 300 schoolchildren in China. The children were performing on stage for local officials when a fire broke out in the theater. The officials were allowed to evacuate first, and by the time they left, nearly all of the children had perished in the flames. 15 years after the tragedy, filmmaker Xu Xin interviewed the parents and teachers of the children, who, after all this time, have not been allowed to publicly express their feelings about the deaths. This is the first opportunity for these people to give public testimony on the deaths of these children, and Xu Xin lets them speak for as long as they wish. >> - Kevin B. Lee...
- 10/20/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Karamay is a staggering documentary about a tragedy that killed nearly 300 schoolchildren in China. The children were performing on stage for local officials when a fire broke out in the theater. The officials were allowed to evacuate first, and by the time they left, nearly all of the children had perished in the flames. 15 years after the tragedy, filmmaker Xu Xin interviewed the parents and teachers of the children, who, after all this time, have not been allowed to publicly express their feelings about the deaths. This is the first opportunity for these people to give public testimony on the deaths of these children, and Xu Xin lets them speak for as long as they wish. >> - Kevin B. Lee...
- 10/20/2014
- Keyframe
What follows is an exchange between Josh Timmermann (a fellow critic and Vancouver resident, who you may recall from this) and I, wherein we discuss the Vancouver International Film Festival and its individual parts, a chance to color outside the lines a bit and discuss the ins and outs of our festival experiences.
Context!
Above: Granville 7 Theatre, Viff's primary venue.
Adam Cook: I’ve been attending Viff since 2008—and you’ve been attending since 2007—so it seems kind of safe to say we’re well on our way to being veterans of the festival; although, this claim is humbled when encountering someone like Chuck Stephens—a member of this year’s Dragons & Tigers jury—who has been coming (from out of town, no less) for something like twenty years. However, five years of Viff-going has equipped me with a knack for knowing how to approach the festival, how to navigate the programming—and,...
Context!
Above: Granville 7 Theatre, Viff's primary venue.
Adam Cook: I’ve been attending Viff since 2008—and you’ve been attending since 2007—so it seems kind of safe to say we’re well on our way to being veterans of the festival; although, this claim is humbled when encountering someone like Chuck Stephens—a member of this year’s Dragons & Tigers jury—who has been coming (from out of town, no less) for something like twenty years. However, five years of Viff-going has equipped me with a knack for knowing how to approach the festival, how to navigate the programming—and,...
- 11/8/2012
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
Xu Xin’s 6-hour testament video, Karamay, which I saw at the Vancouver International Film Festival in October, works forcefully through the aggregate weight of testimonies of indignant misery and cinematic time. Predominately made up of direct-to-camera address by the parents of victims of the 1994 fire in the community hall of the titular company town which claimed over 300 lives, mostly children, Xu, who directs and acts as his own cameraman, puts the camera across from his interviewees in their living rooms and instead of questioning them he lets them talk—for a long time.
Karamay’s framing and editing are imprecise and functional at best, and the direct address of the community members to the camera is less an interview and less a visit to their homes (as the repeated living room settings and the camera-across-the-couch suggest) than a reality television inspired confessional space. Inside that space parents whose children...
Karamay’s framing and editing are imprecise and functional at best, and the direct address of the community members to the camera is less an interview and less a visit to their homes (as the repeated living room settings and the camera-across-the-couch suggest) than a reality television inspired confessional space. Inside that space parents whose children...
- 1/12/2011
- MUBI
With 2010 only a week over, it already feels like best-of and top-ten lists have been pouring in for months, and we’re already tired of them: the ranking, the exclusions (and inclusions), the rules and the qualifiers. Some people got to see films at festivals, others only catch movies on video; and the ability for us, or any publication, to come up with a system to fairly determine who saw what when and what they thought was the best seems an impossible feat. That doesn’t stop most people from doing it, but we liked the fantasy double features we did last year and for our 3rd Writers Poll we thought we'd do it again.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
- 1/10/2011
- MUBI
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