Spicy cocktail hour + Ash is Purest White (18)

To launch our new retrospective of Jia Zhangke films, we're thrilled to welcome members on Sunday 8 March for a spicy cocktail hour prior to the season's first screening.

The selected film, Ash Is Purest White, is set in the Fengjie county, Chongqing, which is renowned for its bold, fiery flavours. In celebration of this, your ticket will include a complimentary baijiu-based cocktail, which features the chili oil & powder from our friends at La La Tongue. They will also be setting up a pop-up shop in the Atrium Bar, allowing you to purchase their tantalising products to take home with you.

After the cocktail hour, we'll all head into the screen for a brief introduction to the season by curator Millie Zhou, followed by an introduction to Ash Is Purest White by Maurizio Marinelli (UCL).

Tickets will be restricted to 2 per member, meaning you can bring a guest along, and are available for £17 each. They include a complimentary spicy cocktail (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) as well as an unallocated seat for the film.

Event timings:

15:30-16:30  Cocktail hour & pop-up shopping

16:30-16:45  Introductions by curator Millie Zhou and academic Maurizio Marinelli (UCL)

16:45-19:10  Screening of Ash Is Purest White

About the film:

Ash Is Purest White is Jia Zhangke’s only explicit gangster film, although his works consistently return to jianghu as a social condition, an informal ethical order shaped by loyalty, obligation, violence, and survival amid historical change. Deeply influenced by Hong Kong genre cinema of the 1980s and 1990s, the film can be seen as a grounded, realist response to the heroic bloodshed tradition epitomized by The Killer, translating its codes of loyalty and jianghu ethics into the lived realities of post-reform China.

Spanning more than fifteen years, the film views a changing China through the perspective of a pair of lovers. It follows Qiao, a woman from Datong, and Bin, a local underworld figure, whose rise and gradual disappearance mirror the shifting structures of power and belonging. Performed by Jia’s muse Zhao Tao, Qiao embodies a cool, self-possessed presence that recalls Pulp Fiction’s Mia Wallace, marked by autonomy, resilience, and moral resolve. After a fight breaks out between rival gangs, an act of loyalty irrevocably alters the course of her life…

About La La Tongue:

In Southwestern China, where mountains roll endlessly and rivers bend like strokes of ancient calligraphy, the love for bold, fiery flavours is woven into daily life. Here, food is more than just sustenance - it’s a tradition, a passion, and one of life’s greatest pleasures. Xinyu and Yao, two lifelong spice lovers and makers from this region, have now been living in London for over a decade. Inspired by the city’s diverse food culture, they felt a deep urge to share the flavours of their heritage with the world. And so, La La Tongue was born - a bold, irresistible healthy food brand that brings the essence of their food culture to every bite, through their delicious chili oil & chili paste. Their products can be ordered directly on La La Tongues’s website, or you can find them occasionally around London’s pop up food markets - especially over the lovely British summertime.

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There will be an additional (regular) screening of Ash Is Purest White on Sunday 3 May, you can buy tickets for this here.