Film series: Taking flight 17 June – 2 August 2015

According to ancient East Asian legends, the dragon can assume many forms. When this mythological creature takes flight, it meanders, leaps and coils, rising out of the water and into the skies, generating mists, clouds, rain and wind.

Screening at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 17 June to 2 August 2015, Taking flight charts the entry of Asian cinema into an international arena and celebrates the courage and intelligence with which its filmmakers have pondered questions of power and change, politics and culture.

Featuring works from some of the most dynamic and distinctive film industries in the world – including Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and China – this survey begins in the late 1980s and proceeds into the 21st century.

Films

• 17, 21 June – Tampopo (director Jûzô Itami, Japan, 1987, 35mm)

• 24, 28 June – Raise the red lantern (director Zhang Yimou, China, 1991, 35mm)

• 24 June – Cyclo (director Tran Anh Hung, Vietnam, 1995, 35mm)

• 1, 5 July – Not one less (director Zhang Yimou, China, 1999, 35mm)

• 8, 12 July – Oldboy (director Park Chan-wook, South Korea, 2003, 35mm)

• 15, 19 July – Be with me (director Eric Khoo, Singapore, 2005, 35mm)

• 22, 26 July – Mother (director Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, 2009, 35mm)

• 22 July – Election (director Johnnie To, Hong Kong, 2005, 35mm)

• 29 July, 2 August – Departures (director Yōjirō Takita, Japan, 2008, 35mm)