Dust In The Wind
(Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1987, 109 min, Taiwan, in Taiwanese and Mandarin w/ English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

Master filmmaker Hou Hsiao Hsien directs this wistful story about lost love and lost innocence among Taiwan's working class. Wan and Huen are high school sweethearts living in a down and out mining community. Too poor to continue their education, the two drop out of school and move to Taipei to find employment. They work all day, pursue their studies at night school, and spend their scant free time drinking with their friends, all working similarly menial jobs. Then Wan is drafted into the army--a fateful turn that alters their lives irrevocably.

Combining the neorealism of Vittorio de Sica and the simple, contemplative style of Yasujiro Ozu, this quiet, unsentimental film realistically portrays a country and people in transition.

Filled with grace, beauty, bittersweet humor, and strong performances from unprofessional actors, it is an engaging exploration of love, innocence, and the harsh realities of modern life. 

"Deeply impressionable visual messages ... linger long after seeing the film" -- Dennis Schwartz

Round table discussion to follow, featuring:

-- Prof. Rey Chow, Duke University
-- Prof. Maria Pramaggiore, North Carolina State University
-- Prof. Richard C. Cante, University of North Carolina, 
    Chapel Hill
-- Prof. Guo-Juin Hong, Duke University

Cost: Free and Open to the Public

Sponsors: Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI), Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Franklin Humanities Institute, and the Visual Studies Center at National Central University, Taiwan