Fall 2008 - First Tuesday Film Festival

Up the Yangtze River
October 7, 7:00 p.m.
Rosehills Theatre

(A documentary directed by Yung Chang, Canada, 2007, 93 min.)

Director will attend screening.

Director Yung Chang uses the construction of China's massive Three Gorges Dam as a springboard to better understanding the social hierarchies and changing times in his homeland by focusing on the luxury cruise ship that travels the Yangtze River. Constructed as a symbol of modern progress in China, the Three Gorges Dam has forced millions of common people out of their ancestral homes.  Despite the fact that the government has funded alternative housing for the dislocated families, however, many citizens make their way to higher ground feeling as if they have been duped by the powers that be. In order to truly understand how this affects the people, Chang focuses on telling the stories of middle-class scion Chen Bo Yu (renamed "Jerry" by the cruise line) and Yu Shui (who answers to the call of "Cindy" while on duty). As the ship sets sail, this hard-working pair do their best to familiarize themselves with Western social cues, striving to perform to the best of their abilities, and ponder the prospects of a brighter future.

The Host,
Tuesday, November 18, 7:00 p.m.
Rosehills Theatre

(A feature film directed by Bong Joon-Ho, South Korea, 2006, 119 min.)

Toxic chemicals are deliberately released into the Han River by American military scientists.  As a result a gaint, mutated monster fish appears to wreck havoc among the riverside residents. A young girl is snatched away from her father by the giant monster and her entire family sets out to locate and destroy the beast so that they can bring their little girl back home safely.

Time and Tide,
Tuesday, December 2, 7:00 p.m.
Rosehills Theatre

(A documentary directed by Julie Bayer and Josh Salzman, USA, 2005, 59 min.)

This is an award-winning documentary about the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu as it heads toward irreversible tragedy. A group of Tuvaluan expatriates return home for the first time in a decade, and they find the forces of globalization and global warming are severely reshaping the land and people they once knew so well. Best Documentary, Hawai`i International Film Festival 2006.