The TIFF Bell Lightbox announced the details for its major summer season programming today, which will explore Chinese film and feature some of that country’s biggest stars, including Jackie Chan.
Called A Century of Chinese Cinema, the program will run from June 5 to August 11 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF, says the program will continue the organization’s many cultural explorations. “If we are, indeed, living in the Chinese Century, it is essential that we attempt to understand what that entails,” Handling said in a statement. “There is no better way to do so than through film, which encourages cross-cultural understanding in our city and beyond.”
Partnered with the China Film Archive, the Hong Kong Film Archive and the Chinese Taipei Film Archive, A Century of Chinese Cinema brings many new film prints, digital restorations and archival 35mm prints unseen in North America to the screens at the Lightbox this summer.
Opening night will feature a screening of Farewell My Concubine with an introduction by acclaimed director Chen Kaige, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or for the film in 1993.
Everyone’s favourite martial-artist-slash-actor Jackie Chan will introduce three of his best films, including Police Story and a special look at the upcoming sequel, a sixth in the Police Story franchise.
Continuing to use the building’s popular exhibition space, the Lightbox will showcase a free exhibition featuring internationally acclaimed visual artist Yang Fudong and renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
Tickets go on sale May 21 at 10 a.m. for TIFF members, and on May 27 at 10 a.m. for non-members.