AsiaLENS: "1428" (Habin De, 2009, 117 min.)

• Event Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010
• Time: 7:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Film

The Great Sichuan Earthquake took place at 14:28 on May 12, 2008. Days later, victims were reduced to salvaging destroyed pig farms in the mountains, recuperating scrap metals for the equivalent of pennies in profit, and pillaging homes. Some seven months after the earthquake, when villagers are preparing for the Lunar New Year, and promises made for all to live in houses in winter seem tough to keep, the director goes beyond the highly mediated official visits to shows us scenes not seen on official TV. New Year‘s Day starts as never-ending parade of tourists buying DVDs of the most horrific scenes, souvenir albums of corpses being pulled out of the ruins, and photo-taking in front of Beichuan, the town most severely hit, where tens of thousands of people perished in seconds. In Mandarin; English subtitles.

AsiaLENS is organized by the Asian Educational Media Service in collaboration with the Spurlock Museum to present recent documentary films on issues in contemporary life in Asia. Guest scholar Kevin Lee will introduce the film and lead the post-screening audience discussion.

For further information, contact AEMS at 333-9597 or visit the AEMS website at AEMS(external link).