“Right Now, Wrong Then” tonight at the Pickford

The next film in the Masters of Asian Cinema series (formerly known as the “Masters of Japanese Cinema” series) is Hong Song-soo’s 2015 Right Now, Wrong Then.  It screens Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 6:30 pm at the Pickford Film Center, 1318 Bay St.. 

Hong Song-soo is a prolific director, having made 18 feature films since his debut in 1996. Making on average one film a year, he has also created a distinctive body of work in contemporary cinema. His characters are often filmmakers, painters, or writers, engaged in the ordinary business of life, love, and friendship.

Right Now, Wrong Then features a film director who goes to another city to present his work and meets someone there in whom he becomes romantically interested. The film explores how how subtle variations in how we present ourselves to others can produce significant changes in our relationships with them.

Co-sponsored by Western Libraries and the Pickford Film Center, the Masters of Japanese Cinema series was one of the Pickford's longest running and most loved series, featuring some of the best films in World Cinema with movies that span both decades and genres. The Masters of Asian Cinema series promises to continue that rich tradition.  

Each film in the series begins with an introduction from select speakers including local professors, artists, and educators including David Gray, who is a visiting assistant professor of Film Studies in the English Department at Western Washington University.

Gray completed his doctorate in 2015 in the Film and Media Studies Department at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he wrote a dissertation on post dictatorship documentary from the Southern Cone. He has published in Media Fields Journal, Studies in Documentary Film, and WideScreen (forthcoming). His research and teaching interests include documentary, Latin American Cinema, spatial studies, trauma and memory studies, and the essay film.

To learn more about upcoming films featured in this series, contact Jeff.Purdue@wwu.edu.