Introduced by Meng Tang, filmmaker and Master of Fine Arts in Time and Interactivity, Department of Art, University of Minnesota. Assistant professor at the Beijing Film Academy, Department of Cinematography.
“A vibrant testimony to a seething subculture in a tumultuous era.” — San Francisco Film Festival
While searching for his pregnant girlfriend, rock singer Cui Jian drinks, smokes, does drugs, and carouses aimlessly. A bleak treatise on youth, cast with actual rock musicians and artists, Beijing Bastards is considered one of the first “independent” films in China, and was partly financed by Zhang’s income from directing music videos. Called “the Sixth Generation’s first major film” (Time), it sparked controversy in China, but won special jury awards at the Locarno and Singapore film festivals. 1993, 35mm, 95 minutes.
