A Tribute to Joan Chen + “Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl”

Description

An astonishingly confident directorial debut from San Francisco-based actress Joan Chen, Xiu Xiu is a heartbreaking coming-of-age melodrama set during the later stages of the Cultural Revolution. A young girl, Xiu Xiu, is sent to a desolate part of Tibet to learn horse breeding from her trainer, Lao Jin, a serene Tibetan herdsman. Deserted in such a bleak, uncompromising landscape, Xiu Xiu dreams of a better life, but slowly realizes that the authorities have no intention of ever rescuing her. Her dreams shattered, she is coerced into sex by visiting townsmen and their promises of “help.” But no help ever comes, and the silent, love-struck Lao Jin is left as her only hope. Chen’s slow-building moods and self-assured narrative tone recall the emotional power and underlying social critique inherent in mainland China’s Fifth Generation filmmakers as well as the work of their predecessor Xie Jin (whose 1976 film, Youth, saw Chen in one of her first starring roles). Austere, uncluttered—no unnecessary dramatic pyrotechnics or visual exotica—Xiu Xiu achieves a purity of vision not found in most contemporary cinema. Coaxing gorgeously refined performances out of radiant newcomer Lu Lu and the Tibetan-born Lopsang, Chen weaves a story of love unspoken and love lost, and in so doing introduces an exciting new voice to world cinema. —Jason Sanders, Festival 1998

Tribute

Joan Chen made her screen debut at 15 with Youth (1976), rocketing to stardom in her native China before relocating to the United States where she broke through to American audiences with roles in The Last Emperor (1987) and the David Lynch series Twin Peaks (1989-1991). She continues to act, most recently appearing in Festival opener Dìdi (弟弟) but she has also built careers as a screenwriter, producer, and director. Her debut feature Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (Festival 1998) received a Film Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best First Feature—Over $500,000 and won five Golden Horse Film Festival Awards, including Best Director and Best Feature Film. She went on to direct Autumn in New York (2000); Shanghai Strangers (2012), a short; The Iron Hammer (2020), a documentary; and a segment of Hero (2022). In 2014, SFFILM honored her as Essential SF.

Moderator Janet Yang

Yang, an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning Hollywood producer, currently presides as President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Her career flourished alongside Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun and continued with Oliver Stone on notable films like The Joy Luck Club and The People vs. Larry Flynt. Notably, she served as Executive Producer on the Oscar-nominated Over the Moon. Collaborating with luminaries such as Meryl Streep, Kathryn Bigelow, Sean Penn, and Morgan Freeman, she’s recognized as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” by the Hollywood Reporter and honored by Variety’s Power of Women. A passionate advocate for cultural understanding, Yang co-founded Gold House and engages with organizations like the Committee of 100 and Asia Society Southern California. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, she holds degrees from Brown University and Columbia University, with her contributions commemorated at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and through honorary degrees.

Film Details