Introduction by guest programmer Janet Louie, Ph.D. candidate, Harvard University. Pre-screening Q&A with Louie and Kurt Wong (UCLA '90), grandson of Tony Quon and Margaret Lew, owners of the Sing Lee Theatre.
Friday, January 16, 2026
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Hammer Museum, Billy Wilder Theater
The Story of a Small Town
小城故事
Year: 1979
Country: Taiwan
Language: Mandarin with English subtitles
Runtime: 94 min.
Digital Color
A man (Kenny Bee) recently released from prison falls in love with a mute woman (Joan Lin) in this classic wenyi film. Wenyi, often translated as “melodrama,” refers to a tradition in Chinese cinema dating back to the 1920s. Characterized by their modern, cosmopolitan sensibility, the wenyi or “literary-art” films of 1970s Taiwan were especially popular among diasporic audiences across Asia and North America. The film’s lasting legacy, however, is its soundtrack — featuring Teresa Teng, whose theme song “Small Town Story” became one of the first major pop hits to enter Mainland China after its 1978 economic opening.
DCP. Director: Lee Hsing. Screenwriter: Chang Yung-hsiang. With: Kenny Bee, Joan Lin, Ko Hsiang-ting.
Ticket Info:
Free admission
No advance reservations
Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office
Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis
The box office opens one hour before the event
This event is part of the series "Echoes From Spring Street: The World of Sing Lee and Chinese-Language Cinema in L.A."
Sponsor(s): Center for Chinese Studies, Film and Television Archive