Three's company: Liu Jiayin's (far right) minimalist style captures the monotony of family life. Photo: courtesy of Liu Jiayin

Liu Jianyin's Oxhide films are noted for their frank and challenging takes at how simple and difficult life can be for contemporary Chinese families. And given that Liu worked as writer, producer, director and actress for two iterations in the series has earned her a reputation as a darling of modern Chinese indie cinema.

The first Oxhide film, which shot in 2002 as a graduate project when Liu was only 23, would go on to be honored at the Berlin International Film Festival. Its sequel, Oxhide II, which follows the same family as its predecessor, debuted last year at Cannes.

"I wanted to preserve how my life was between me and my parents," said Liu, speaking on her reasons for beginning the first Oxhide project. "Our lives were very peaceful, but very hard. I wanted to capture the sense of beauty I was able to see according to such a difficult way of life."

After one month of filming in small chunks, Liu had completed her debut despite what she referred to as "lots of fights" between the actors on set (Liu's actual family served as the movie's actors) when shoots would stretch well past midnight.

Liu's technique has been singled out for its extremely minimalist style, where still shots can last as long as 20 minutes. The entirety of Oxhide II consists of just over 20 total shots. But Liu, who cur-rently teaches script writing at the Beijing Film Academy, said she is well aware of how challenging her films can be for a typical audience.

"When I made the first Oxhide, it was simply a creative process and I wasn't necessarily thinking about reaching any one audience or making it to any film festival," Liu said. "[Making the film the way I did] was a huge risk, but I didn't want to compromise along the way."

"A film is like a kind of personality," she said, when asked why she didn't particularly mind challenging audiences. "I would say that [Oxhide] is like a kind of person that has a hard time making friends. But having few friends isn't a reason to change."

"But I do respect the audience," she added. "Even if it seems like I don't have them in mind."

Liu, so far, has been notorious for keeping her future projects under wraps as many of her friends and colleagues had no idea she had wrapped up shooting Oxhide II last year. Her next project, Oxhide III, will be in the same vein as the last one, only this time it will be a "weird comedy."

When asked if she had been given the budget that was used to make Confucius, Liu responded that she would strike out to make a "movie that would take a lot of risks, it would be 'risky weird.'"

Where: Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 798 Art District

When: Thursday, Feb 25, 7 pm— Oxhide II; Saturday, Feb 27, 7 pm—Oxhide; Sunday, Feb 28, 4 pm—Oxhide II followed by director Q&A

Contact: 6438-6675

www.ucca.org.cn