In his stunning feature
film debut, renowned opera director Chen Shi-Zheng follows the
passionate ambition of a Chinese physicist (Liu Ye) who is exploited by
his professor (Aidan Quinn) and coddled by his wealthy patron (Meryl
Streep). Also stars Blair Brown. This melodrama set in
academia, based loosely on a real incident, addresses East-West
cultural miscommunication.
Awards:
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, Sundance Film Festival, 2007
Festivals:
Official Selection, AFI Dallas Film Festival, Hong
Kong International Film Festival, San Francisco International Asian
American Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival
“Dark Matter, with
its view of cutthroat politics and competing egos inside a university,
is also laudable in its refusal to soft-pedal the viciously petty side
of the academic fishbowl.” --The New York Times
“ …Chen's film captures, from the inside, the
strange and insular world of the Chinese graduate students who
increasingly dominate the math and science fields at major American
universities.” --Salon.com
"...an elegant debut feature..." --Film Comment