Transcending Boundaries through Music

16 November 2017 | 7.00 p.m.
ZHU XIAO-MEI: HOW BACH DEFEATED MAO
Dir.: Paul Smaczny | 2014-16 | 58 min.

Music, especially the music of Bach, made it possible for Zhu Xiao-Mei to cope with the worst challenges of her existence. The pianist experienced all of the  consequences of the Mao regime and the Cultural Revolution: years of indoctrination and “reeducation”, five years confined to a labour camp, a shattered family, hardships and harassment. In 1980, she emigrated and ultimately made Paris her new home.

This film tells the story of her return to China as an internationally acclaimed interpreter of Bach’s music, 35 years after leaving her country. The decision to
return to China was not easy for her. The wounds of the Cultural Revolution, in which Mao laid waste to the country, laid too deep. And yet, the dark chapter of
the Cultural Revolution still remains unresolved. Fighting against suppression and oblivion, Zhu Xiao-Mei constantly raises this sore point that Chinese society still
suffers from today.

17 November 2017 | 7.00 p.m.
John Cage – Journeys in Sound
Dir.: Allan Miller & Paul Smaczny | 2012 | 60 min.

A Zen master or an expert on chance? A specialist in mushrooms or a performance artist? The inventor of new sounds or a cook? An author or an anarchist? John Cage was all of these things.

On the occasion of his centenary in fall 2012, this documentary by Oscar-winner Allan Miller and Emmy-winner Paul Smaczny pays tribute to the most fascinating American avant-garde composer John Cage. Shot in America, Germany and Japan, the program premieres rare archival footage; presenting concert excerpts and a set of short episodes, featuring associates of Cage and contemporary artists, playfully delineating different aspects of John Cage.

The documentary features interviews with Yoko Ono, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Steffen Schleiermacher, Irvine Arditti, Toshio Hosokawa, Mayumi Miyata, Calvin Tomkins and many others.