Halloween screening (and screaming!) of the long-lost Chinese spider-women film CAVE OF THE SILKEN WEB 盤絲洞 (1927)

Cave of the Silken Web (Pan si dong; Dan Duyu, dir., 1937) is a silent feature film adapted from an episode in the Ming-dynasty novel Journey to the West in which the monk Tripitaka is kidnapped and held prisoner in a cave of spider women. Will his traveling companions the Monkey King, Pigsy, and Sandy be able to rescue him before Tripitaka is forced to marry the Spider Queen?

The film was lost for nearly a century before a partial copy was discovered in Norway with both Chinese and Norwegian intertitles. The National Library of Norway made this restored copy available to the Chinese Film Classics Project headed by UBC professor Christopher Rea, whose new translation of the film, with new music by Donald Sosin, is premiering at UBC this Halloween!

After the screening, join UBC professors Mila Zuo and Christopher Rea for a discussion of this remarkable film.

Costumes encouraged!