Witnessing Disaster in China: An Evening with Du Haibin ("1428" screening)

Date
Tue October 12th 2010, 7:00pm
Event Sponsor
Center for East Asian Studies
Location
Building 260 - Room 113,
Main Quad
Witnessing Disaster in China: An Evening with Du Haibin ("1428" screening)
Speaker:

DU Haibin, Director

**PLEASE NOTE SCREENING START TIME OF 7PM**

DU will be present during the screening and host a Q&A session after the film. Film running time is 116 minutes.

Free and open to the public. Please note that seating is first come first served. Event will be closed once capacity is reached.

1428, directed by Du Haibin, won the Best Documentary Award at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival. 1428 observes the shocking aftermath of the Great Sichuan Earthquake, which took place at 14:28 on May 12, 2008, causing 70,000 deaths and 375,000 casualties. Du visited Sichuan to capture how victims, citizens and the government responded to this national tragedy. Sidestepping the highly controlled media tours, Du found scenes not seen on official TV, exposing the gap between the Party’s promises and the disaster victims’ reality. Using a poetic, elliptical narrative structure, Du Haibin delivers a vision of human devastation that is “fascinating, beautifully crafted” (Ronnie Scheib, Variety).

Beyond describing the disaster and its consequences, the director also examines the prominence of media and consumerism in contemporary China: tourists buy DVDs of horrific post-earthquake footage, souvenir albums of corpses, and pose for photos at sites of the highest death tolls. Du depicts a world in chaos, both material and moral.

Contact Phone Number