MCLC: When the Bough Breaks

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kevin lee (alsolikelife at gmail.com)
Subject: When the Bough Breaks
***********************************************************

Source: dGenerate Films:
http://dgeneratefilms.com/dgf-events/acclaimed-documentary-when-the-bough-b
reaks-with-director-ji-dan-in-person-nyc-chicago-iowa/#more-8853

This week dGenerate Films, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the
University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Grinnell College
proudly present acclaimed filmmaker Ji Dan, screening her newest
documentary When the Bough Breaks.

Dubbed ³one of the most important female filmmakers in China² by the
Rotterdam Film Festival, Ji Dan spent three years following a migrant
worker family living in the outskirts of Beijing, as the family¹s three
children fight against all odds ­ including their own parents ­ to
continue their education and pursue a better future. The family¹s tense
exchanges are captured as two headstrong girls try to negotiate a path to
independence, security, and adulthood, revealing how some children are
forced to make their own way in the world. The film climaxes in perhaps
the most dramatically stunning Chinese New Year family scene ever recorded.

The film premiered at the 2011 Yunnan Multicultural Visual Festival, and
screened at the 2011 China Independent Film Festival as one of the top 10
documentaries of the year, and at the 2012 International Film Festival
Rotterdam.  Says Ji Dan of the experience of filming When the Bough
Breaks:  ŒNever before have I become so involved in the story of my
subjects and never before have I felt as unsettled or overwhelmed.¹

Ji Dan will be present at each screening. A full list of screenings and
venues follows:

Museum of Modern Art, New York
Monday February 20, 8pm
Wednesday February 22, 1:30pm
Part of MoMA Documentary Fortnight
11 W 53 St, New York, NY
Visit moma.org for more details
<http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/14568>

Northwestern University, Evanston IL
Thursday, February 23, 7pm
Chambers Hall- 600 Foster
located on the Lower Level of the Transportation Center

Grinnell College, Grinnell IA
Friday, Feb. 24, 8pm
Alumni Recital Hall (ARH) 302
Grinnell College

University of Chicago
Sunday, Feb. 26, 5pm
Doc Films
Ida Noyes Hall at The University of Chicago (1212 East 59th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637)

Visit Doc Films for more details
<http://dgeneratefilms.com/dgf-events/acclaimed-documentary-when-the-bough-
breaks-with-director-ji-dan-in-person-nyc-chicago-iowa/Ida%20Noyes%20Hall%2
0at%20The%20University%20of%20Chicago%20(1212%20East%2059th%20Street,%20Chi
cago,%20IL%2060637)>

Special thanks to the Museum of Modern Art, the University of Chicago, Doc
Films, Northwestern University, and Grinnell College.

About Ji Dan
Born in 1963 in Heilongjiang. After graduating from Beijing Normal
University, Ji Dan spent time in Japan from 1988, studying at Yokohama
National University and at Kyoto Seika University. She later joined Asia
Press International and began producing independent documentaries in 1994.
Old Men (1999), a film about Tibetan farmers, was shown at the
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and the Taiwan
International Ethnographic Film Festival. Ji has also filmed many
documentary programs for NHK television. She participated in YIDFF 2003,
as producer of the Ogawa Shinsuke Prize-winning Wellspring (2002). Her
Dream of the Empty City (2007) was produced with support from the Pusan
International Film Festival.