Cinema East Film 'Mahjong'

The next film of the Cinema East film series at Pickford Film Center (1318 Bay Street) is Edward Yang’s feature Mahjong, which screens on Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 7:45 p.m., with a matinee screening at 11:00 a.m.  More information and tickets can be found online. 

According to the Pickford’s website, Mahjong is “an acerbic, sprawling tragicomedy, a poison love letter to Taipei as a rising cosmopolis of big money, big dreams, and big cons,” featuring four immature and directionless young people who implement a series of schemes and swindles. 

“In several intertwined tales of greed, violence, and shattered principles, Mahjong examines how a city can grow in power and wealth while abandoning its heart and soul.”

The Cinema East film series is co-presented by Western Libraries and Pickford Film Center, with film selections curated by WWU librarian Jeff Purdue. The evening screening of Mahjong will be introduced by Eren Odabasi, Associate Professor of Global Cinema in the English Department at Western Washington University. 

Odabasi holds a PhD in Communication and Film Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research and teaching interests include global cinema, media policy and governance, film festivals, and auteur theory. His scholarly articles have appeared in journals such as Quarterly Review of Film and Video, New Review of Film and Television Studies, Society and Leisure, and The Global South. As a film critic, he has written extensively for Altyazi, a prestigious film monthly in Turkey, since 2008. He was invited to the Talents Program of the Berlin International Film Festival twice and served as a jury member in the Semaine de la Critique section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.

For more information about the Cinema East series, please see the PFC website, or contact Jeff Purdue at: purduej@wwu.edu, (360)-650-7750. 

All PFC theaters are ADA accessible with wheelchair seating, and closed captioning and assistive listening devices are available at the box office. For questions about or to request disability accommodation, please contact Meghan Schilling, meghan@pickfordfilmcenter.org.