Happy Lunar New Year from the USC US-China Institute!
Fortune Teller (Suan Ming)
The China Institute in America will showcase the film Fortune Teller, directed by Xu Tong.
When:
February 21, 2012 6:30pm to 8:45pm
“The colorful life of a countryside fortune teller provides a candid and deeply revelatory look at people living on the fringes of Chinese society."
Li Baicheng is a charismatic fortune teller who services a clientele of prostitutes and shadowy figures whose jobs, like his, are commonplace but technically illegal in China. He practices his ancient craft in a village near Beijing while taking care of his deaf…wife Pearl, who he rescued from her family’s mistreatment. Winter brings a police crackdown on both fortune tellers and prostitutes, forcing Li and Pearl into temporary exile, during which they visit their hometowns and confront old family demons. Li’s humble story is punctuated with chapter headings reminiscent of Qing Dynasty popular fiction.
In Fortune Teller, Xu Tong continues his work documenting China’s underclass, whose lives have gone largely unnoticed during the country’s boom years. Xu spent a year filming nearly every detail of Li’s daily existence and the ancient spiritual practices he administers. Fortune Teller is ‘an exhaustive case history on the marginalization of the poor and disabled under Chinese capitalism’ (Ronnie Scheib, Variety) and a ‘complete immersion into their deceptively simple world in the countryside of northern China’ (Ada Tseng, Asia Pacific Arts).” –dGenerate Films
Runtime: 129 minutes
Cost:
$5 member / $8 non-member; $10 nonmembers; Seating is limited, pre-registration required; Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis.
Event Website URL:
Phone Number:
(212) 744-8181
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