Film Screening: The Love Story of Lao An
Post Screening Talk: Yang Lina Dances with Video: from Actress to Director
Film Screening
6:30pm - 9:30pm, 2 November 2019, Lecture Theatre 4, Yasumoto International Park
Moderator: Dr. Li Tiecheng
Speaker: Director Yang Lina
Abstract
A character-based documentary from Yang Lina, The Love Life of Lao An focuses on the 90-year old Lao An of the title, a ballroom dancing fanatic who falls for his considerably younger dance partner Xiao Wei despite being married to a long-suffering wife. Dancing with the also-married Xiao Wei daily in the gardens of Beijing's Temple of Heaven, Lao An takes her with him as he goes to the market and visits the hospitals. Intimate and humanistic, Yang Lina and her camera act almost as confidants for Lao An, following him everywhere and capturing the ups and downs of his life and his changing relationships with his family and Xiao Wei.
About Speaker
Born in 1972 in China, Yang Lina graduated from the Art Academy of the People's Liberation Army in 1995. She then danced and acted in numerous ballets, theater plays and feature films, including Jia Zhangke's Platform (Zhantai/站台), then started her work as an independent documentary filmmaker in 1997. She films retired couples who meet and fall in love on the dance floor in the gardens of Beijing's Temple of Heaven. Film The Love of Lao An belongs to this series.