Explore This Month's E-Resources - School of Film and Television: November 2023

Directed by Wang Guangli (China: Privately Published), 1 hour 6 minutes

Wang Guangli, a former professor and now a self-taught filmmaker, interviews Chinese university graduates of 1992 in Beijing. Shot over six days, I Graduated explores the feelings and thoughts of young men and women about their lives as students since the Tiananmen Square protest on June 4, 1989. A conflict that turned violent and deadly, it was led primarily by students and intellectuals. The graduates in the film were just freshmen then. Their candid conversations with the filmmaker focus mainly on changes in university life since the protests, their future within the Communist party as they graduate, political thinking, some philosophy, and frank talk about sex on campus. The film opens on a busy courtyard where graduates are preparing their packed belongings for departing Beijing. We then go with Wang and his cadre of filmmakers as they secretly interview graduates for this film. Intercut with the interviews are love ballads sung about their lives and their sentiments about leaving the university to meet their future. The film offers an inside look at the lives of these Chinese students as political liberalization and a leap towards a market economy were taking place in Communist China.

Directed by Agung Sentausa, Performed by Aries Budiman, Ayu Ratna, Fedi Nuril (Indonesia: Miles Films), 1 hour 47 minutes

An Indonesian garage band, Garasi, is comprised of the perfect band mates who have found the perfect sound. Mixing Balinese music with a progressive sound they become a phenomenon among alternative rock fans. But in the band members' personal lives, mixing music and life gets complicated. They agree to keep these separate but can't seem to honor this very easily. A romance buds, jealousy creeps in, and a secret gets revealed that threatens to break the band's musical success as well as their bond. Family dynamics in their homes strain the group as well. Gaia and her mother, who have only each other, find that the secret they share is driving them apart. The other band mates, Aga and Awan, have shared a close friendship since childhood, but it teeters with insecurities despite the sweet sharing of a home with other creative artists. In Garasi, music is an elixir that pushes and pulls.

Directed by Manijeh Hekmat, Performed by Babak Hamidian, Pegah Ahangarani, Niki Karimi (Iran: Iranian Independents), 1 hour 34 minutes

3 Women constitutes Iranian filmmaker Manijeh Hekmat's second feature film and focuses on the lives of three generations of women -- a grandmother, mother, and daughter -- all of whom struggle to come to grips with their past and their identity. Manoo -- a textile specialist who works tirelessly to protect antique rugs from being smuggled out of Iran -- is forced to drop everything when her elderly mother goes missing. Her mother, who is in the early stages of dementia, absconds with one of the rugs Manoo has been trying to protect and journeys to the village from which she was forced to flee as a young woman. Pegah, the youngest of the trio, embarks on her own journey -- a road trip into the desert -- during which time she meets a fellow traveler who is also trying to "find" himself. This beautifully told narrative highlights in a powerful way the human condition in all its strengths and frailties.

Directed by Garin Nugroho, Ethnographer Garin Nugroho, Performed by Bambang S. Jayantoro, Wiwiek Handawiyah, Pramana Padmodarmaya (Indonesia: Set Film Workshop), 2 hours 3 minutes

Literally translated, the title means 'The Moon Pierced by Wild Grass,' and the film tells the story of the relationship between an aged traditional song teacher named Waluyo, his folk music disciple Ilalang (who has to cope with memories of his abusive father) and the lovely dancer Bulan, who Ilalang has loved for a long time. The feature is set in Solo, where the vestiges of feudal Javanese culture can still be found, and gamelan music is heard throughout. It is an intensely emotional meditation upon the relationship between the generations and the role of music in the search for recovery from a traumatic past and for identity in an uncertain present. Director Garin Nugroho, who has described himself as 'a Javanese living amidst multiculturalism,' and who celebrates Indonesian cultural diversity in such films as A Poet, here explores Javanese culture. He sees this film as 'encompassing at the same time refinement and cruelty, softness and tyranny, and a beauty based on feudalism.' Awards/Festivals: Best Director Award, Nantes International Film Festival. Special Jury Prize at the Nantes Three Continent Film Festival.

Directed by Jung Hae-yun, Kim Jin-hee (South Korea: Korea National University of Arts), 39 minutes

The Josun people (North Koreans) have a hard time adjusting in South Korea especially since many of them still have families in China. Produced by the Korean National University of Arts.