UC Davis will host the opening ceremony and screening for the inaugural Davis Chinese Film Festival as the university celebrates Global Confucius Institute Day on Saturday, Sept. 27.

The Confucius Institute at UC Davis — devoted to Chinese food and beverage culture — and the Davis Chinese Film Festival Foundation will show "Eat Drink Man Woman," a 1995 Academy Award nominee for best foreign-language film, at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Institute leadership at UC Davis selected the film to show at the 10th anniversary celebration of the founding of the first Confucius Institute because of its luscious depiction of Chinese food culture.

Ning Wan, co-chair of the community film festival and a staff member of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis, said the Confucius celebration and film festival are a good fit. "This festival aims to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the people of China and the U.S."

Free tickets can be ordered through the center's box office.

"Eat Drink Man Woman" was directed and co-written by Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee, who was born in Taiwan. One of his first critical and box-office successes, the film features elaborate dinners as it explores the relationships of a widowed master chef and his three unmarried daughters in 1990s Taipei. It will be shown with English subtitles.

Opening ceremony

Ralph Hexter, provost and executive vice chancellor at UC Davis, will emcee the opening event, which will begin at 2 p.m. in Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. Making remarks will be:

• Adrienne Martín, interim vice provost for University Outreach and International Programs and chair of the institute's board of advisers;
• Ning Wan and John Wu, co-chairs of the Davis Chinese Film Foundation;
• Deputy Consul General Bi Gang of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco;
• Joe Krovoza, former mayor of the City of Davis and member of the UC Davis staff and the foundation board; and
• film director Arvin Chen.

Panel discussion

Following the screening, Michelle Yeh, chair of the UC Davis Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and newly appointed director of the institute, will moderate a question-and-answer session with:

• Lina Fat, vice president and director of food for the Fat Restaurant Group in Sacramento;
• Chen, director of "Au Revoir Taipei" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?";
• Alice Wen, film and television actress ("Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and the upcoming movie "Entourage"); and
• Sheldon Lu, a UC Davis professor of comparative literature whose expertise includes Chinese-language cinema and cultural theory.

Global Confucius Institute Day

The opening event is part of the worldwide celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the first Confucius institute in the world in Seoul, South Korea. In the hour before the ceremony, the lobby will offer a photo exhibit and a short documentary about the Confucius Institute at UC Davis.

Established in 2012, the Confucius Institute at UC Davis is the first institute among 400 in the world to focus on promoting understanding of Chinese food and beverage culture. Combining the signature strengths of UC Davis and China’s Jiangnan University as global leaders in food and beverage science and technology, the institute offers workshops, lectures and cultural events for the campus and the public.

The film festival will hold a China-U.S. film forum on campus on Sept. 28 and screen 13 other contemporary Chinese films through Oct. 26.

About the Davis Chinese Film Festival Foundation

The Davis Chinese Film Festival Foundation was established this year to promote Chinese art and culture through the film festival and to develop friendships, mutual understanding and cultural awareness between the people of the United States and China.