The Day of Reckoning (腊月三十日到来), China 2018, Xu Xing, 62 Min., OV with Chinese and English Subtitles

Openings words and artist talk with the direcetor Xu Xing and Dr. Lorenz Bichler from the Institute of Sinology of the University of Heidelberg

Xu Xing’s film documentary uses a love story between a husband and wife as a vehicle with which to confront the contortions of China’s political history since 1949. It is a personal love story, but it is also a story of a nation. Xu Xing wants to give a chance to the society to tell and keep their rather tragic story behind the official narrative of the Chinese state.

About the Artist: Xu Xing 徐星 is a prominent Chinese writer and documentary filmmaker. Often called ”The Chinese Jack Kerouac,” his works have consistently engaged with national and international issues of politics, power, and moral responsibility. Xu enjoyed his most prolific period as a writer during the 1980s and 1990s, and his books reached a broad international audience when they were translated into French, English and German. In the early 1990s he migrated to Germany, staying in Heidelberg. After returning to his hometown Beijing, he began shooting documentary films. Xu Xing worked in Villa Aurora as a Feuchtwanger Fellow in 2008.

Dr. Lorenz Bichler is a PhD Sinologist with a degree in Sinology, Japanese Studies and Modern History in Zurich, Beijing and Tokyo. He taught at New York University and is currently teaching at the Sinological Institute of the University of Heidelberg.