Set in the early 1990s, Liu Jian’s latest animated feature film Art College 1994 is based on his own experiences on the campus of the Chinese Southern Academy of Arts. It returns to the meticulous hand-drawn 2D animation style of predecessor Have a Nice Day.

The film features the voices of Jia Zhangke, Zheng Dasheng, Xu Lei, film producer Wang Hongwei, musicians Peng Lei and Ren Ke, academic Xu Zhiyuan, and Shen Lihui

Release Date

Directed by Liu Jian, Art College 1994 world premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival; and beginning this Friday, April 26, opens for a week-long NY exclusive theatrical run at Metrograph In Theater.

Synopsis

1990s, China. A motley gang of Chinese art students fill their languid days with inchoate musings about aesthetics, philosophy and the promised ‘good’ life after graduation. A portrait of youth, the students live in full swing as they take their first steps into adulthood, where love and friendships are intertwined with artistic pursuits, ideals and ambitions. Caught between tradition and modernity, they now have to choose who they want to become.

Amidst idle moments and flashes of artistic inspiration, Xiaojun (voiced by Dong Zijian) epitomises the quintessential romantic, fashioning himself in the image of grunge idol Kurt Cobain. His partner-in-crime, Rabbit (Chizi), provides a stabilizing anchor with his unfiltered wit, grounding their collective aspirations.

With a strikingly distinctive animation style, heightened by the resonant voiceovers of Bi Gan and Jia Zhangke, the film serves as a captivating lens through which we glimpse the inherent contradictions in a country presciently anticipating the imminent turn of the globalized millennium.

Reviews

The Hollywood Reporter review called the film ‘endearing’ wrote, “Art College 1994, a deadpan slice of comic-sad social realism from Chinese animator Liu Jian (Have a Nice Day), offers reassuring evidence that although cultural specificities can shape artistic traditions — and fashion and tastes fluctuate — art students are basically all the same and always have been: slovenly, idealistic, and prone to pretentious waffle, especially when lubricated with alcohol. But also, at least based on the evidence of the characters here, reasonably endearing with their guileless dreams of making meaningful work in a world where it sometimes feels like everything has been done.”

Official Trailer

Watch the official trailer for Art College 1994.