Gallery 4a presents Cinema Alley

Overview

Enough with the lawns and gardens – outdoor cinema could do with some dirtying up. Taking over Parker St in Chinatown for one night only, Gallery 4a's Cinema Alley is presenting a double-bill with An Estranged Paradise (1999), a feature-length film by one of China's leading contemporary artists, Yang Fudong, and The Cowboy's Flute, an early 1960's animation by Te Wei of the Shanghai Animation Studio.

Known predominately for his photographic irony and short art films, Fudong's An Estranged Paradise was his first feature-length film, taking him seven years to complete. The film is centered on Zhuzi, a young man complaining of a general malaise eventually deduced to be only intense boredom. Estrangement and aimlessness play out in this psychological drama on the uneventfulness of happiness with all the poetry and power for which Fudong is renowned.

The Cowboy's Flute is a key water and ink-wash short animation from the Shanghai Animation Studio. Unmistakably Chinese, the story unfolds without dialogue, emphasising the animation's art, and the soundscape.

This year's Cinema Alley is a celebration of the collision of contemporary and traditional concerns in Chinese art. Tickets are free but limited so pre-book early.

As part of the program Gallery 4a is also running an animation project where audience members can submit short animations with selected works to be screened the following year (contact the gallery for details).