Hou Hsiao-Hsien's magnificent 1989 film, "A City of Sadness", brings to light the truth about the 1947 massacre known as "the 228 incident". Winner of the Golden Lion Award at the 1989 Venice Film Festival, "A City of Sadness" treats one of the key issues of Taiwanese history, yet it is not a political film. It focuses, not on the bloodshed, but on the consequences for a particular family and how individual experience is impacted by the flow of time and history. A reception preceeds the screening at 6:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Houston and the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts at Rice University.