CONNECTIVITY THROUGH CINEMA PRESENTS:
 TO ALEXANDRA

A feature-length experimental non-fiction film by Cui, Yi (崔誼) * IN PERSON *
FRIDAY OCTOBER 9TH 2026 @ MONO NO AWARE : CINEMA ARTS NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
MONO NO AWARE 33 FLATBUSH AVE, 3RD FLOOR REAR - LIMITED ATTENDANCE TO 40 - MASKS AVAILABLE
DOORS 7 PM – STARTS PROMPTLY AT 7:30 PM – FREE TO ATTEND

TRT, 71 minutes. Additional time for discussion / Q & A with Cui, Yi (崔誼) *IN PERSON *

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

Two travelogues intertwined.
A collage.
A correspondence.
Through text, researcher-writer Alexandra David-Néel’s journey across the Himalayas a century ago unfolds via her letters home. 
In audiovisual spaces, the filmmaker's experiences in eastern Tibet are reflected via her own lens and those of native Tibetan people.
Meandering between past and present, the work invites viewers into a meditative space open to contemplation on life, death, history, remembrance, the self, and more.

PROGRAM:

To Alexandra
digital / b&w and color / digital sound / 71min / 2025 / Filmed in Tibet / co-production countries: China, Canada, USA

Bio
Cui, Yi is a Chinese media artist. Her practice is rooted in process and collaboration. She engages time-based forms as a way of listening, thinking and relating. Through her evolving framework of “Migrating Cinema”, she explores intersections between grassroots filmmaking, expanded cinema, traveling projection, and ancient screen arts such as shadow theatre. 
For over a decade, Yi has worked closely with communities in Eastern Tibet, supporting local audiovisual creation by herding families, monastic filmmakers, and students. These sustained relationships have deeply shaped her artistic approach, emphasizing situated knowledge, mutual learning, and media-making as a relational, open-ended process. Her recent work “To Alexandra” emerges from this ongoing dialogue, reflecting a collaborative effort with members of the Tibetan community.
Her work has been presented at exhibitions and film festivals worldwide, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Images Festival, Viennale, Ji.hlava IDFF, Message to Man, and Cinéma Vérité in Iran. It has received recognition including the Grand Prize at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and the Libraries’ Award at Cinéma du Réel, and is held in the audiovisual collection of the Bibliothèque publique d’information at the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

 MONO NO AWARE SCREENING SERIES:
The CONNECTIVITY THROUGH CINEMA series will present the work of artists, film-makers and curators who are traveling or presenting special interactive programs in-person. Our hope is to engage the community by showing work with a focus on post-screening discussion. This series is made possible by support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).