1. Program
  2. /
  3. Film Series
  4. /
  5. Asian Presences in the Colonial Metropolis of Berlin
  6. /
  7. Piccadilly – Nachtwelt

Piccadilly – Nachtwelt

Ewald André Dupont, UK 1929, 109 Min., OV with English subs
Followed by a talk with Dr. Kien Nghi Ha, Dr. Kimiko Suda and Yumin Li

Original version with Blu-ray, British Film Institute, 2003, restored soundtrack

The screening will be introduced by Yumin Li. Introduction: Anna May Wong – a Chinese-American Hollywood Star in Berlin

Unlike the other films in the series, Piccadilly is not set in an imaginary Asia, but takes place in the heart of modern London with exotic excursions to Chinatown. Despite this setting, the stereotypical roles remain virtually unchanged: in this tragic drama of love and jealousy, the US star Anna May Wong embodies a Chinese woman who, with ethnic chic, rises to become a sexually desirable showgirl in a nightclub but meets a tragic end. She is an Asian migrant worker who, as a seductive femme fatale, threatens but also satisfies the White man whilst at the same time becoming a victim of her own cultural origins.

Yumin Li is a cultural historian whose dissertation examines Anna May Wong's career spanning several decades on four continents. Together with the collective andcompany&Co. she is developing the theater performance “Shanzhai Express”, which playfully deals with Anna May Wong (premiere 10.6.2023 at Volksbühne Berlin).

Dr. Kimiko Suda works at the Technical University of Berlin on institutional racism in Germany. She is an active member of korientation e.V. and interested in decolonial/antiracist memory culture. From 2011-2017, she co-directed the Asian Film Festival Berlin with Dr. Sun-ju Choi.