About the Film
Xiang is hard-working, running a small sesame oil business. Her husband is lazy and a drunk; her son is mentally handicapped. When Japanese investors provide capital to expand Xiang's business, she has the wealth to raise her social standing and buy a wife for her son, Dunzi. When money and a forceful personality fail to bend others to her will, including daughter-in-law Huanhuan, Xiang must find another way to tranquillity.
About the Director
Xie Fei was born in Yan'an in 1937 and graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in the 1960s. Xie has directed nine films during his long career, all of which have been showered with acclaim, both at home and from abroad. His movie Black Snow won the Silver Bear Award for personal achievement at the Berlin Film Festival in 1989, where he later won the Golden Bear Award for Woman Sesame Oil Maker in 1992. Three years later his touching movie A Mongolian Tale won Best Director at the Montreal Film Festival. Most of Xie's films have been adapted from famous Chinese novels, helping to offer a deeper insight into Chinese history and culture. The movies focus on the lives of ordinary people who struggle in vain to come to terms with the limitations imposed by the society they live in. Xie was a visiting scholar at USC 1988-1989.Discussants
Jason Squire, Associate Professor of Cinema Practice, USC School of Cinematic Arts
Stanley Rosen, Professor of Political Science, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Suggested Parking
Royal Street Structure (Formerly Parking Strucuture D) - $12/day
Enter at the intersection of W. Jefferson Blvd. & Royal Street.
Limited street parking is also available along Jefferson Blvd.