The 2015 Village Voice Best Film Festival award winner is back! China Institute is thrilled to be a part of this year’s New York Asian Film Festival, co-hosting the North American Premiere of What’s in the Darkness. A coming-of-age fable mapped onto an unsolved crime story, at once dream-hazed and sharp-edged with suspense, Variety called writer/director Wang Yichun’s outstanding debut “the most acute and uncompromisingly grim murder mystery to come out of China in years.” Following the screening there will be a Q&A with director Wang Yichun and a free reception hosted by China Institute and sponsored by Tsingtao Beer.

Schedule
Monday, June 27
6:15 pm – 7:50 pm: Film Screening
7:55 pm – 8:25 pm: Q&A with Director Wang Yichun
8:30 pm – 9:30 pm: Reception featuring a talk with Subway Cinema, Freida & Roy Furman Gallery

Location
Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street, New York, 10023

Event fee
Reception is Free
Screening: $14 general, $11 students & senior, $9 FSLC member
To purchase tickets, click here

The 2015 Village Voice Best Film Festival award winner is back! China Institute is thrilled to be a part of this year’s New York Asian Film Festival, co-hosting the North American Premiere of What’s in the Darkness. A coming-of-age fable mapped onto an unsolved crime story, at once dream-hazed and sharp-edged with suspense, Varietycalled writer/director Wang Yichun’s outstanding debut “the most acute and uncompromisingly grim murder mystery to come out of China in years.” Following the screening there will be a Q&A with director Wang Yichun and a free reception hosted by China Institute and sponsored by Tsingtao Beer.

What’s In The Darkness
黑處有什麼
Wang Yichun, China, 2015, DCP, 98m
Mandarin with English subtitles
Starring: Su Xiaotong, Guo Xiao, Lu Qiwei, Deng Gang

A coming-of-age fable mapped onto an unsolved crime story, at once dream-hazed and sharp-edged with suspense, Variety called writer/director Wang Yichun’s outstanding debut “the most acute and uncompromisingly grim murder mystery to come out of China in years,” but the film owes as much to The Diary of a Teenage Girl as it does to Diary of a Serial Killer. What’s in the Darkness brilliantly evokes the perils of repressed desire, while equating China’s transition to capitalism with the prurient confusion of puberty. In a semi-rural village of Hebei Province in the early 1990s, someone is raping and killing young women, and carving a cross into their flesh. Following the case with perverse fascination, Jing (Su Xiaotong) struggles to harness her emerging sexuality while her father (Guo Xiao), a low-level cop, futilely tries to convince his incompetent colleagues of the merits of forensic investigation. Presented with the support of China Institute.

The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by Subway Cinema and the Film Society of Lincoln Center and takes place from June 22 to July 5 at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater, and July 6 to 9 at SVA Theatre.

For questions or to register by phone, please contact Michael Buening at 212-744-8181 ext. 149 or by email at mbuening@chinainstitute.org

Become a China Institute Silk Purse* Patron-level member by June 30 and receive a 20% discount on the membership price, 2 additional FREE Months of Silk Purse membership, PLUS two complimentary tickets to this screening of What’s in the Darkness (June 27) or the screening of Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid (Saturday, July 2 with an appearance by Jelly Lin). Offer limited to ticket availability. To register email: mconnolly@chinainstitute.org or call Megan Connolly at 212-744-8181 ext. 158

* $ 500 ($ 322 tax/deductible) value for only $ 400. Silk Purse memberships include two membership cards and exclusive discounts on all art & culture programs at China Institute

For more information, please visit http://www.chinainstitute.org/event/new-york-asian-film-festival-screening-reception-whats-in-the-darkness/