“Cicadas chirp in the North, while wind dances with rain in the South”
This summer, Dear Cinema held two cross city film viewing events. With graduation season coming to an end, we celebrated Ladybird (2017), a film written and directed by Greta Gerwig that tells the coming of age story through the unique lens of a mother and daughter relationship.
Organised in Association with Women in Media China, Cinker Pictures, and Le Passé Shanghai; Dear Cinema is a serial film screening event borne as a love letter to cinema, where we aim to celebrate the power of story through the big screen.
Creative Direction by Madina.
Videography and Editing by: Dima Veselov
【Beijing】
This is Dear Cinema’s third event in Beijing, we once again partnered with Cinker Pictures to bring a film viewing experience like non other. In the privacy of Cinker’s theatre, guests were treated to a cocktail and story. Many of those in the audience were able to find a fragment of their past or current selves in the film. One audience member joined us because they were from Sacramento and wanted to feel home through the screen, other audience members included mother and daughter duos looking to spend Thursday night with a story familiar to them.
At the end of the event, Dear Cinema invited the Managing Editor of Jingkids International Mina Yan, Nova Universal CEO Jasmine Xie, and CMO Molly Wu to lead the discussion with the audience and each other on the nuances of the film. Many from the audience shared their own coming of age experiences, including a bright young teenager who bravely voiced her own opinions on the film.
Photos taken by film photographer Marc Long.
【Shanghai】
Cut to 1200 km from Beijing, Dear Cinema held its first event in Shanghai. Behind the velvet theatre curtains of Le Passé, we experienced Ladybird (2017) in a different type of atmosphere. With an impending typhoon on the way, we were worried that many guests might not show up. The day of the event, however, held many surprises. Not only did people arrive on time, but the typhoon decided to wait for our event to finish before gracing the city.
Many in the audience had come up to ask why this particular film was chosen, and reflected on the similarities to their own relationship with their mother. Incredibly grounded, Ladybird showed us a picture of adolescence in all its uncertainties. This was particularly true at the end of the film where we were not explicitly shown what the heroine and her mother’s relationship culminated to. Perhaps an ending like this was also the reason why many wanted to stay and discuss the film with one another.
Nestled in the crook of a cafe on Fuxing West Road, on a seemingly mundane Saturday, was a group of cinema lovers experiencing the world of Ladybird. On that afternoon, we all left the event feeling a bit more certain about ourselves, what we’ve become, and what our parents have given us to become.
Photos by fashion photographer Shao Kou.
Dear Cinema will be returning with many more events at Cinker Pictures nationwide in China.
Follow us on Instagram to find out which city you’ll see us in next!