The KT Wong Foundation, in association with the BFI and China Film Archive (CFA), will screen a re-mastered version of classic Chinese silent film The Goddess this autumn at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank.
This exclusive UK premiere will take place on 14th October 2014 as part of the prestigious BFI London Film Festival – one of the world’s leading cinema events.
To celebrate this historic moment the KT Wong Foundation has commissioned a new musical score for The Goddess by Chinese composer Zou Ye. The evening screening of the film will therefore be accompanied live by the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Chalmers.
In 2014, the China Film Archive successfully completed the digital restoration of this film, which has since been shown at the Beijing International Film Festival with a live score performed by the Chinese Philharmonic Orchestra; as well as at the 2014 Shanghai International Film Festival and the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.
The upcoming British premiere of The Goddess marks an important return to prominence for a film that was denounced as decadent when the Communist Party came to power.
The Goddess forms one part of a programme of 15 films selected by KT Wong Foundation, entitled Goddess, Martyr, Heroine: A Portrait of Women in Chinese Cinema. The programme will focus on the role of Chinese women over the last century, as shown though film. The full programme can be seen in Paris in November, and follows the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations.