Censored Cinema Series at the Wolfsonian Museum

Sep 7th, 2006The Wolfsonian’s sixth annual summer film series continues to explore national identity in film with a look at films banned in their country of origin. National censorship is currently a topic of much interest to many Americans as a result of the rapid rise of corporate media and the perceived encroachment of civil liberties in the name of security. Films are generally banned for one of three reasons: political, religious, or sexual content. There will be discussions on how individual films were objectionable to the state, what resulted from the ban, and how the ban affected the director, the state, or the public. The series is closing September 7th with the screening of Lan Feng Zheng (The Blue Kite) from China. This magnificiently shot film chronicles a politically uninvolved family’s struggle to live through the grand-scale changes brought on by Chairman Mao’s many social and cultural programs including the Rectification Movement, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution of 1966. The film’s subtle criticism of the effects of these movements on the common man was thoroughly rejected by the state. This film has never been screened in China and its director was forbidden to create another film for ten years. For more information, please call: 305.531.1001