Up The Yangtze

A record 278 (for a matinee screening) were in attendance for the screening of director Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze, one of Canada's top ten films of 2007. Beautifully filmed, the viewing was a little spoiled by the fact that the 35 mm print did not arrive resulting in need to screen from a DVD, shipped at the last minute from the film distributor (it arrived one hour before the scheduled screening). The result was that the screen size was reduced and the sound quality was not consistent. We apologize for this. As a result of the substitution of DVD for 35 mm print, the distributor cost was reduced significantly, providing an additional donation of $500 to Hamilton Out of the Cold. We thank the attending audience for their patience and acceptance of the conditions.

Up the Yangtze has been acclaimed worldwide and has received astounding critical reviews (95% on Rotten Tomatoes and 84% on Metacritic). The Yangtze river, known simply as The River in China, is undergoing the largest hydro-electric project in history, The Three Gorges Dam. This project will provide economic significance to China but also result in the displacement of millions of inhabitants, many very poor, whose lives have revolved around the river. The film follows two youths working on a tourist tour boat, the shy and sensitive Yu Shui (Cindy), whose family lives on a houseboat and shack on the river's edge and the brash and arrogant Chen Bo Yu (Jerry), who comes from a well-to-do family. Cindy wants to pursue her education and help support her family but Jerry, a brash young man, sees the opening Chinese economy as a sense of entitlement and a stepping-stone to wealth and success.

With a simple but thought-provoking narrative, Chang lets the camera focus on the lives and thoughts of the two youths, the different groups of individuals on the tour boat and the awesomeness of the river and the construction about it to contrast the old and new China and analyze the impact of the Three Gorges Dam Project.

An interview with director Yung Chang:

http://www.indiewire.com/people/2008/01/park_city_08_in_12.html

Let us know your thoughts on the film.

Julian D.