East Asia Film Festival Ireland (EAFFI) in partnership with Dublin Lunar New Year and Asia Market is delighted to celebrate the Lunar New Year 2026: Year of the Horse with the Irish premiere of the director’s cut version in beautiful digital 4K restoration of Center Stage starring Maggie Cheung, winner Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1992.

Ruan Lingyu (1910-1935), Chinese silent cinema’s iconic female star took her own life at age 24. In her nine-years career, Ruan made twenty-nine films with Lianhua Studios, achieving fame as the ‘Garbo of the East’. As she rose to stardom, scandals over her private life brought infamy and tragedy. Stanley Kwan’s inventive biopic uses a story-within-a-story structure, interviewing actors–including Maggie Cheun’s sensitive portrayal of Ruan–about their roles during filming, and beautifully integrating footage from Ruan’s original films to reconstruct her life.

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard, EAFFI