Radical Sunday School: Mapping Anarchism in China, the Netherlands, and Elsewhere

Sunday 11 February 2024, Radical Sunday School: Mapping Anarchism in China, the Netherlands, and Elsewhere. Earlier than our usual time, not at 18:00 but at 15:30.

In this session, a Chinese organizer/artist will invite participants to make a collective mapping of past and ongoing anarchist practices and events in places that are familiar, in order to find threads of cooperation and possibilities. In addition, they will bring self-published books and zines from his community in Southern China to Radical Sunday School. Through collective learning, the community they are from discovered a forgotten anarchist history in 20th century China, including collaborative actions across borders. These self-published books come from their collective writing based on these stories as well as their own practices. To make the session more convivial, they will invite participants to practice “energy waving collective” together, a game of listening to each other’s body that is modified from Tuishou (Pushing Hands), an internal Chinese martial art practice. […Lees verder]

Hong Kong films

Sunday October 6th and 13th 2019, Hong Kong films. Doors open at 20:00, Film starts at 20:30.

As the struggle in Hong Kong goes on we’re going to watch some political and a-bit-less-political films from there, all filmed since the handover from Britain to China. We can also chat after the films about the current situation, the powerful solidarity being displayed by very different parts of society, the complex political demands, and the interesting wave of tactics over the recent years.

Films in Joe’s are on Sunday 6th and 13th. There will also be films in the Budapest, Pesthuislaan in Oud West on Fridays 11th and 25th. All open at 20:00 with the film starting at 20:30.
Keep an eye on https://squ.at/r/1cd for confirmation of which film when.

The first film in Joe on the 6th will be the most recent. Inspired by real-life criminal gangs in Hong Kong who recruit schoolkids to smuggle mobile phones into mainland China. It’s a gentle film that gets under your skin, capturing the impulsiveness and impatience of teenagers. As the smuggling and gang story continues we’re in ‘got in too deep’ territory, but it’s the strong and nuanced characters, complex motivations, and empathy that grabs the viewer.

Our next film, on the 11th is the oldest, made directly after the handover. Again we meet youth and petty crime, but this time a quite different location and style.  Set in the high density poor subsidised housing projects it was shot in true guerrilla style, using spare pieces of film from other movies, with five crew members loaning money for the equipment and only two months of production. This low budget film portrays, realistically, the lives of delinquents and small time triad members. The film is soon swamped in a permeating nihilism which induces it with a punk essence that seems to fit its visual style to perfection. It is sometimes regarded as a response to the 1997 Hong Kong handover, the directer feels that it can also be viewed as a character-driven drama that reflects the lifestyle of many young Hong Kong people at the time.

We will also watch a documentary on another evening. This follows the controversial radical localist Edward Leung Tin-kei activist and politician, starting with his campaign to win a seat on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. Things didn’t go according to the script when Leung was barred from the election because of his advocacy of independence. This intimate portrayal continues with the director trailing him, camera in hand, going as far as Boston in the United States when he left Hong Kong for a respite from the furore over localism, the HK right-wing movement heavily associated with recent protests. Surely a film that will spark some discussion over the different political threads of the recent protests, we can recommend https://lausan.hk/ if you want to do a bit of reading.

The fourth film we’ll watch was made almost five years ago. Five directors were asked to make a film about how Hong Kong would be in 2025. Independent filmmaking with this degree of inflamatory content is unheard of in Hong Kong, and it did cause quite a stir particularly among the more political conscious and restless members of Hong Kong society, due to the often disturbing visions that its makers have offered up.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Movie night: The Goddess (Wu Yonggang, 1934)

Sunday March 11th 2018: Movie night: The Goddess (Wu Yonggang, 1934). Silent | Chinese intertitles with English subtitles | 85 minutes. Doors open at 8pm, film starts at 8:30pm.

In Shen nu (The Goddess), the legendary Chinese actress Ruan Lingyu plays a single mother driven into prostitution to pay for her young son’s schooling. Her best efforts to maintain some personal dignity run aground on social hypocrisy and male misogyny. It’s a 1934 silent film, but nonetheless described as “a film of startling modernity.”

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net

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Movie Night: Xiao Wu (The Pickpocket, Jia Zhangke, 1997)

The_PickpocketSunday 2nd April 2017, Xiao Wu (The Pickpocket) from Jia Zhangke, 1997. 111 minutes. Language: Mandarin/Jin Chinese. Subtitles:English. Door opens at 8pm, film begin at 9pm. Free admission.

Tonight we will screen the film Xiao Wu or Pickpocket, directed by Chinese director Jia Zhangke and starring only non-professional actors. The film plays in the 1990s, which is a transitional period in China away from communism and towards capitalism. The lead character, a pickpocket on the fringes of society, is struggling to cope with the rapid changes.

What’s so great about this film is that it perfectly and honestly captures the atmosphere of 1990s China, an era when many just overcame their hunger. This place was so poor and culturally remote that few took the effort to document anything. This time did however lay the basics for the current superpower of 1.3 billion. Even if only for that reason, this is a film worth to be seen!

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Doors open after 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net