Film Society is proud to kick off OKCMOA’s latest film series, Blades & Ballet: King Hu and the Heroines of Wuxia, with a screening of Hou Hsaio-Hsien’s The Assassin. Bringing his signature long takes and exquisitely ornamental aesthetic to the wuxia genre, master Taiwanese director Hou Hsaio-Hsien won the Best Director Award for The Assassin at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Featuring an exclusive reception, special introduction, and post-screening discussion with Dr. Man-Fung Yip, Chair and Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Oklahoma, you won’t want to miss this presentation of Hou’s The Assassin.
Event Schedule
6 pm | Reception begins in the Museum Lobby
7 pm | Introduction and Screening of The Assassin (105 min.) in the Noble Theater
9 pm | Post-Screening Discussion with Dr. Man-Fung Yip in the Noble Theater
About The Assassin
In the midst of China’s ninth-century Tang Dynasty, a general’s young daughter (Shu Qi) is kidnapped and trained to become a great assassin. When she fails to complete a mission for sentimental reasons, she is assigned to kill her betrothed (Chen Chang). Awarded the Best Director prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, The Assassin is world-class filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s (Flowers of Shanghai) first attempt at producing work in the wuxia (martial arts) genre. What emerges is a true pinnacle in the recent history of the genre, a work of uttermost originality that above all attends to the exquisite decors, lavish period costuming, and to the flickering candlelight of the bygone dynastic age. Beautiful, hypnotic, and punctuated by brief but unforgettable bursts of action, The Assassin is a martial arts film like none made before it.
Meet Man-Fung Yip, PhD
Dr. Man-Fung Yip is Chair and Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Oklahoma. His research and teaching interests focus on Chinese-language and East Asian film studies, theories of national and transnational cinema, the juncture of cinema, mass culture, and modernity, and the cinematic/cultural Cold War. Dr. Yip is the author of Martial Arts Cinema and Hong Kong Modernity: Aesthetics, Representation, Circulation (HKU Press, 2017) and co-editor of American and Chinese-Language Cinemas: Examining Cultural Flows (Routledge, 2015) and The Cold War and Asian Cinemas (Routledge, 2019). His articles have been published in numerous edited volumes and in peer-reviewed journals such as Cinema Journal (now Journal of Cinema and Media Studies).
Not a Film Society member?
Become a member now to attend this event for free! In addition to general OKCMOA membership benefits, Film Society members enjoy invitations to quarterly Film Society events, two free film ticket vouchers, and an extra discount on all OKCMOA film screenings. Join online today, or call 405.278.8207 to add Film Society to your current OKCMOA membership.
