EDMONTON.- Robert Adanto’s documentary The Rising Tide, which features some of the hottest names in the Chinese Contemporary Art scene, will be screened during the 24th edition of The Works Art & Design Festival, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Works Festival features a diverse array of talent from across the province, the nation, and the world. The Works’ exhibits run the gamut from the traditional to the cutting edge— new media installations, interactive electronic art and avant-garde music and dance.

Metro Cinema in Edmonton will screen Mr. Adanto’s film on four separate nights. All screenings will take place at Zeidler Hall in the Citadel Theatre, 9828 - 101A Ave

The four screenings will take place on the following dates and times:

* Jun 19 & 21 @ 7pm
* Jun 20 & 23 @ 9:30pm

Mr. Adanto will be on-hand to host a post-screening Q&A on the 19th and 20th.

http://www.metrocinema.org/film_view/2191/

In addition to the screenings at Metro Cinema, on Saturday, June 20th at 2:00pm, Mr. Adanto will share his thoughts on the more recent developments on the situation in China with a lecture on contemporary China. Metro Cinema will be presenting a live stream between Mr. Adanto and some of these artists as they discuss their current situation: how and what they're doing now that the tides have shifted so dramatically (economically and otherwise) since the film was completed last year.

Featuring the internationally-recognized Cao Fei, Xu Zhen, Wang Qingsong, Chen Qiulin, O Zhang, Yang Yong and Birdhead, The Rising Tide is an incredibly timely examination of China’s growing prominence in international culture. In a climate of globalization and rapid urbanization, Chinese Contemporary Art has emerged as arguably the most vital and imaginative cultural force in the world today. “The rest of us better make an effort to grasp what their work is about, or get out of the way,” says Mark Lynch, host of WICN’s Inquiry, ” [The Rising Tide is] an ‘eye-opener’ in every sense of the word, if you are an artist, curator or art teacher be sure to catch this film.” “Adanto’s surprisingly grim film highlights both the vitality and urgency of China’s burgeoning new culture while allowing its subjects to speak of the darker and more painful aspects of change,” says Gerry Mak in the on-line publication Flavorpill.

The Rising Tide was shot in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in the summer of 2006 and completed in February of 2008. It was part of the United Kingdom’s China Now! festival, as part of Constant Stream: China 08 at the Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre in London, where it screened with a film by acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhangke. Mr. Adanto’s film has also screened at The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, The Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC, The Worcester Art Museum, and The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami. Additionally, Mr. Adanto’s film was featured in conjunction with Shanghai Kaleidoscope, an exhibition curated by Christopher Phillips of The International Center of Photography in NY at The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and at The Bates College Museum of Art, The Kansas City Institute of the Arts, and the Pacific Asia Museum. Additionally, The Rising Tide was screened at the National Center for Contemporary Art in Moscow and was an Official Selection at this year’s Cape Winelands Film Festival in Cape Town, South Africa. Most recently, The Rising Tide was featured as part of Asia Art Archive’s Backroom Conversations at the Hong Kong International Art Fair.