No Rule is Our Rule: Screening and Discussion with Eiko Otake and Wen Hui

Join us for a screening and discussion of No Rule is Our Rule, a documentary film about the friendship between two fiercely independent, interdisciplinary female dance artists Eiko Otake and Wen Hui. Eiko grew up in postwar Japan and has lived in New York since the 1970s. 8 years younger, Beijing-based Wen Hui grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China and shows her work internationally. They spent a month together in China in January 2020, when the surge of COVID-19 became first known to the general public. Postponing their physical collaboration, Eiko and Wen Hui continued to converse candidly over Zoom and co-edited the footage they filmed in China. The process has deepened their mutual understanding of their past works created and presented in different historical and social contexts.  

This event is co-sponsored by the Asian Film & Media Initiative at the Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies, NYU. It marks Wen Hui's first return to New York since 2018, when she presented her work Red at Asia Society. The 76-minute film screening will be followed by a discussion with the artists themselves. Yiru Chen, who joined Eiko and Wen Hui in editing, will also participate in the conversation, which is moderated by Zhen Zhang, Professor in the Department of Cinema Studies at NYU Tisch and founding Director of the Asian Film and Media Initiative. 

No Rule is Our Rule was recently selected for the Munich New Wave Film Festival and won Best Feature Documentary at the Japan International Film Festival this year. 

2023 / China/United States / 76 min

Directed and Produced by Eiko Otake, Wen Hui 

Edited by Yiru Chen, Eiko Otake, Wen Hui 

Synopsis: 

This is a story of friendship between two independent female artists and the body memories each willingly carries. In January 2020, New York-based, interdisciplinary performing artist Eiko Otake arrived in Beijing to visit Wen Hui, a Chinese choreographer and filmmaker. Eight years apart, Eiko grew up in postwar Japan and Wen, during the Cultural Revolution in China. They planned to visit each other for a month to converse and collaborate. The surge of COVID-19 abruptly cut off Eiko’s visit and the pandemic made Wen’s visit to the USA impossible, but not the collaboration. Looking back on the video diaries they shot without a script, Eiko and Wen continued their dialogue on Zoom, sharing past works that form a deeper understanding of their circumstantial differences and characteristic similarities. 

Artist Biographies