Oct. 5, 2010
Contact:
Elizabeth Klipp, 404-413-1356
University Relations
Jennifer Waters, 404-413-5120
Arts and Sciences Dean's Office
ATLANTA - Georgia State University will host several days of Chinese and Asian culture events on campus this week, leading up to the opening of the new Confucius Institute at GSU on Oct. 15.
The Chinese Film Festival premieres Oct. 6-7, featuring films by eminent Chinese directors Wu Tianming and Xie Fei.
It will include four films: "Old Well" at 4 p.m. on Oct. 6; "A Girl from Hunan" at 7 p.m. on Oct. 6; "King of Masks" at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 and "Woman from the Lake of Scented Souls" at 8 p.m. on Oct. 7.
Free and open to the public, all films will be shown at Georgia State's Rialto Center for the Arts, located at 80 Forsyth St. NW.
The film festival is the first event of the newly-formed Confucius Institute at Georgia State, which will provide comprehensive services for promoting Chinese language and culture, foster intercultural exchange between China and the U.S., and serve as a one-of-a-kind resource for business communities in Atlanta and Georgia. The GSU Confucius Institute will be dedicated and celebrated at a free, but ticketed event at 8 p.m. on Oct. 15.
The Chinese Film Festival will also feature a director's talk at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the Rialto with Wu Tianming and Xie Fei. GSU is pleased to host Yao Wanli, a playwright, and Yibing Liu, a professor with the Beijing Film Academcy, who will present with directors Tianming and Fei.
"These two directors are two of the most influential directors in the history of Chinese films, and their work impacted several generations of Chinese from the 1970s to the present," said Baotong Gu, director of the GSU Confucius Institute. "This film festival will be an illustrative example of the mission of the newly established Confucius Institute at GSU • to promote a better understanding of Chinese language and culture."
Also on Oct. 7, the exhibition "Spirited Calligraphy" will open at the Ernest G. Welch Gallery in the School of Art and Design, 10 Peachtree Center Ave.
The exhibition, which runs through Nov. 19, is free and open to the public. Featuring the works by Chinese, Japanese and American artists, the exhibit will showcase the strong tradition of calligraphy in Asian culture and how it reveals its contemporary expression as well.
Featured artists Michiko Hamasaki and Haruto Hirano from Japan and Tsai Yulung from China will attend the exhibition's opening reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 7 in the Welch Gallery.The artists will also attend the symposium at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 8 in Dahlberg Hall, formerly Alumni Hall located at 30 Courtland St. The symposium will offer attendees the unique opportunity to watch these visiting artists create their works.
Both events are co-sponsored by Georgia State's Center for Collaborative and International Arts, CENCIA. Additional funding from the Confucius Institute, Japan Foundation, GSU Asian Studies Center and Fulton County Arts programs helped to make these programs possible.
"Collectively, these two events demonstrate GSU's educational and cultural commitment to Asian Studies," said Ralph Gilbert, associate dean of fine arts and director of CENCIA. "We are proud to support both programs."
For more information, please visit www.arts.gsu.edu/3803.html and http://www.arts.gsu.edu/3817.html