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“The most important Chinese film of the past several years -and one of the most astonishing recent films from any country” (Shelly Kraicer, Cinema Scope ), OXHIDE announced the arrival of a great new talent in contemporary cinema. This no-budget first feature was made by twenty-three-year-old Liu Jiayin, whose first trip outside of China was to present the film at the 2005 Berlin film festival. There, OXHIDE won the Fipresci prize and has since been showered with awards, including Vancouver's Dragons and Tigers Award, The Jeonju JJ Star Award, the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Golden DV Award, and is thus likely the most celebrated Chinese debut since Jia Zhangke's XIAO WU. A humanist portrait of a Chinese working class family (too convincingly played by Liu, her father and her mother?) and their struggle to maintain dignity in a consumerist society - the father designs and makes intricately beautiful handbags out of oxhide - the film demonstrates a patient rhythm, a pensive tranquility, and a mature blend of humour and solemnity which belies the filmmaker's age. With only twenty-three shots (one for every year of Liu's life), each taken with a stationary DV camera in widescreen compositions, OXHIDE is an audacious, minimalist tour de force, whose visual and emotional impact has made it a landmark debut and instant classic among cinephiles. Alas, its formal daring has been deemed too radical for commercial distribution, so see it now as this may be your only chance. AP
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