This Year the Adelaide Cinematheque is proud to present five key retrospective films in the Oz Asia On Screen programme. The films form part of two larger retrospectives of films. Hong Kong On Screen: The Floating Life of Clara Law focuses on the work of Hong Kong film director Clara Law who now lives and works in Australia. Korean On Screen celebrates earlier works by key contemporary Korean directors. Please reference the Oz Asia Festival catalogue for the full programme of five films in both retrospectives. Pre-bookings are required for these sessions. Members please RSVP in advance.

AUTUMN MOON || LIKE A DREAM
THE GODDESS OF 1967
SECERT SUNSHINE
BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE

Dir: Clara Law
1992 Hong Kong/Japan 108mins 35mm
Law’s break-through success won the Gold Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival establishing her as a major international director. A teenage schoolgirl left behind when her family migrates to Canada strikes up an unlikely friendship with a Japanese tourist. Together they fumble towards an acceptance of who they are. This is a film remarkable for its ability to capture Hong Kong through the eyes of an outsider, and establishes her characteristic theme of the bonds between outsiders.

*Q& A session with Clara Law follows screening

Dir: Clara Law
2009 Taiwan 118mins 35mm
“Which is more true—life or dream? Is our life actually a bigger dream?” (Clara Law). Max, an American-born Chinese, is a wanderer between continents. He dreams constantly of a woman, and this darkly fascinating fable takes off from the point where she steps out of his dreams and into the world. Law’s triumphant return to Chinese cinema was nominated for Best Film at the Golden Horse Awards and feted as opening film at the 2010 Hong Kong film festival.

*Q& A session with Clara Law follows screening

Dir: Clara Law
2000 Australia 119mins 35mm
The Blind Girl, the Japanese Man, the vintage Citröen. Law has re-created the Australian road movie through fresh eyes. The girl is on a quest to confront an unbearable memory, the man a fugitive seeking a sense of purpose in a new place. Together they drive through a landscape in search of a way of anchoring themselves more firmly in the world. “A magnificently lensed story with a very original vision” (Variety). Stars Rose Byrne, Kurokawa Rikiya and Nicholas Hope.

Dir: Lee Chang-Dong
2007 South Korea 141mins 35mm
Recently widowed, Shin-ae (Jeon Do-youn) and her son move from Seoul to a small town, Miryang, the birthplace of her late husband. Having given up a career as a concert pianist when she married, she sets up a piano school in town but the move is not quite the new beginning that she anticipated. Locals prove to be gossipy and tragedy strikes leaving her distraught and vulnerable. It is at this point that writer/director and former Korean Minister for Culture and Tourism, LeeChangdong, intensifies the story with a captivating twist involving Shin-ae’s recruitment to a Christian group.

WINNER Best Actress (JEON Do-youn) Cannes Film Festival 2007

Dir: Bong Joon-Ho
2000 South Korea 106mins 35mm
In a peaceful middle-class apartment building, part-time lecturer Yoon-ju becomes hyper-sensitive to a dog’s barking. He puts his ear to the walls in an attempt to pinpoint the source. Then one day, returning from his recycling ritual, he discovers a puppy in front of his neighbour’s door. Convinced that it is the barking culprit, he imprisons the puppy in the basement. Meanwhile, the apartment custodian Hyun-nam searches for the puppy with its young owner. Satisfied of being rid of the dog, Yoon-ju returns to his apartment only to hear barking again. He rushes to the basement, but the puppy is nowhere to be found… This is an engaging and entertaining story with unexpected complexities from the director of The Host and Mother.