Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2008

ORDINARY SHADOWS. CHINESE SHADE. Ordinary Shadows. Chinese Shade. begins in Vancouver, Chinese New Year 1988. Sounds of intricate Chinese wind instruments, loud banging of gongs, and dragon dances are juxtaposed with interviews with Chinese Canadians. Recounting stories of working on the railroad, the Japanese occupation, and the Communist revolution, the interviewees, in turn, ask Wong: “If our families had no other choice but to leave, why would you choose to go back?” From there Wong sets off for China in search of family relatives who live there. Upon arriving in a small town along the Pearl River, a picture of displaced traditions and discrepancies about the past emerges. We enter into a heated discussion about the government’s promise to return property taken during the revolution. Aunts argue over the facts. “The documents are all wrong!” one insists. “Let me tell you, they are correct,” insist the other. Both somewhat unsure of the truth, someone asks, “Who wrote these anyway?” In one of Canada’s earliest point-of-view (P.O.V.) experimental documentaries that explore the notion of ‘motherland’ from an Asian Canadian perspective, Wong presents a complex portrait of the People’s Republic of China in the midst of rapid cultural transformation. Demystifying the exotic images of “Chineseness” seen in the first scene, Wong records daily occurrences in old rural communities and modern urban cities. Wong experiences range from old farming practices such as the killing of a chicken, to the party scene where young, made-up girls ironically perform the Western pop song “Material Girl” by Madonna. Other insightful scenes include interviews with family members sending messages to loved ones in North America, statements by a Youth Communist Party member, and a visit with a Western friend staying in a Chinese hospital. In Ordinary Shadows. Chinese Shade , Paul Wong’s charming and sincere portraits use the portability and accessibility of the medium to allow individuals to talk about their own histories. Looking for continuity between the past, present, and future in contemporary Chinese culture, Wong ultimately asks, “What freedoms and choices do individuals really have?” Paul Wong was born in Prince Rupert, B.C., in 1955. Since the 1970s, Wong has been a self-invented video pioneer, curator, and organizer of events, conferences, and public interventions. Wong’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale, the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival, and the Beijing International New Media Biennale. His work is housed in public collections including those of the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Wong is the recipient of the Bell Canada Award in Video Art and Canada's Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter, Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival, V tape

With the invention of low-cost, portable, easy-to-use equipment, video pioneers like Paul Wong were no longer restricted by ideological structures of broadcast media. Moving into an art practice that became an extension of the body, with an emphasis on process over product, artists of the 1960s and ’70s experimented with conceptual art and performance. This selection, Wong’s groundbreaking work from the 1970s along with the premiere of three new works from his Unplugged series, focusses on contemplative, visceral and closely intimate experiences. Recent promises of digital technologies has inspired him to revisit his collection, as it is the first time in his career that he has been able to bring it all together into one format. And yet despite high-tech and digital compositing capabilities, Wong’s work continues to have a true appreciation for beauty of imperfections. The light buzz of the video sound, jerky handheld shots and in-camera edits all reveal a sort of de-romanticized rawness that is full of humanity. 60 UNIT: BRUISE (Re-mastered) Dir. Paul Wong & Ken Fletcher | Canada | 1976 | 4:30 In Wong’s first colour videotape, Ken Fletcher draws several millilitres of blood from his arm and injects the syringe into Paul Wong’s naked back. Focussing on the purple bruise that slowly spreads over Wong’s skin, the dangerous mixing of bodily fluids evokes the most disturbing anxieties. The video was originally conceived as a sort of homoerotic blood-brother performance that indirectly referenced drug use, “but from a vantage point of two decades into the AIDS crisis, when new strains of hepatitis are constantly being identified, the audacity of its play between youth and decadence, pleasure and danger becomes a document of irretrievable innocence. It evokes nostalgia for a present no longer possible” (Richard Fung). 7 DAY ACTIVITY (New Digital Edit) Dir. Paul Wong | Canada | 1977–2008 | 8:35 Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the vainest of them all? Bearing the influence of several artistic genres such as performance and body art in the 1970s, Wong self-consciously examines himself through seven days of facial treatments for acne. IN TEN SITY (re-mastered single-channel mix) Dir. Paul Wong | Canada | 1978–2008 | 25:00 | Toronto Premiere In a performance that reportedly almost started an unpredictable riot, Wong releases deep feelings of anger and hopelessness in demonstration of pure emotions and power. Boxed off in an eight-by-eight-foot space, monitored by cameras on all sides, Wong repeatedly throws himself into walls and thrashes to the punk lyrics of The Avengers, Patti Smith, and The Sex Pistols. In Ten Sity is dedicated to his good friend and collaborator Kenneth Fletcher (1954–1978) who committed suicide. Almost bashing himself unconscious, Wong’s performance compelled people from the audience to throw themselves into the box, and resulted in a violent display. As people uncontrollably interrupt Wong’s performance, he grabs a hold of one of them and wrestles her to the ground. UNPLUGGED: SALLY, CHELSEA HOTEL ROOM 207 , and PERFECT DAY Dir. Paul Wong | China/USA/Canada | 2008 | 18:30 | Toronto Premiere In a trilogy from Unplugged , an album of 16 informal video sketches, Wong revisits his collection of hundreds of uncatalogued videos. Always behind the camera, Wong is as uninhibited and instinctual as ever. Sally (6:00) gazes at beautiful Sally as she relaxes in her bathrobe in the sumptuous suite at the China Club in Beijing. Chelsea Hotel Room 207 (5:00) engages us in a crack-induced euphoria New York hotel room with three men in their underpants. Perfect Day (7:30) focusses on Wong alone in his studio trying to find inspiration. Revealing insecure moments in the everyday life of a mature artist, Wong searches for the roots of his creative process. DOG EAT DOG Dir. Paul Wong | Canada | 2008 | 7:00 | World Premiere In this work featuring muse Jules Francisco performing “Dog Eat Dog” by Joni Mitchell, Wong presents a dark and light side of innocence. COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Fado Performance Art Centre, Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival, V tape