Raise The Red Lantern to Return in 4K Restoration at Film Forum

Zhang Yimou's Oscar-nominated RAISE THE RED LANTERN (1991), a visually sumptuous, politically sharp portrait of 1920s China, anchored by a performance from Gong Li, one of international cinema's greatest stars of the era, will run at Film Forum from Friday, November 6 to Thursday, November 19 in a new 4K restoration.

Nineteen-year-old Songlian, a promising student whose family has been destroyed by her father's death, is forced to abandon her studies and marry into wealth, becoming the fourth and newest concubine of the aging, unseen Master Chen. Inside his walled estate, she discovers a household ruled by a merciless ritual: each night, red lanterns are lit outside the chambers of whichever wife the master chooses to visit, granting her privilege and status while the others are cast into cold irrelevance. Songlian is drawn into the orbit of her rivals, each shaped by years of fighting for the same scraps of attention. Determined at first to rise above the games, Songlian is gradually worn down by isolation and humiliation until she strikes back, trading secrets and favors to secure her place in Master Chen's hierarchy. As petty cruelty turns even more dire, Songlian is forced to confront what these desperate measures will cost her soul. Newly restored, RAISE THE RED LANTERN remains a landmark of Fifth Generation Chinese cinema and 1990s international film.

Credits

Directed by Zhang Yimou

Written by Ni Zhen

Based on Raise the Red Lantern (Wives and Concubines) by Su Tong

Produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chiu Fu-sheng, Zhang Wenze

Starring Gong Li, Saifei He, Jingwu Ma, Cuifen Cao

Cinematography: Zhao Fei | Editing: Du Yuan | Music: Zhao Jiping, Naoki Tachikawa

1991 | China | Approx. 125 min. | Film Movement

The 4K restoration was carried out by the Udine Far East Film Festival on the occasion of its 26th edition. The original image and sound negatives were used under the supervision of Director Zhang Yimou. The vintage positive copy, presented at the 1991 Venice International Film Festival and preserved at the Venice Biennale's Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts, was used for color reference. The restoration was made in 2024 at L'Immagine Ritrovata (Hong Kong - Bologna).

The screening run is presented with support from the Reginald S. Reinhardt, Ling-Makekau Fund for Asia-Pacific Films.

Film Forum's repertory calendar is programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Repertory Artistic Director.