The work of the well-known painter, Qiu Jiongiiong, seems to be underpinned throughout by an unyielding documentary resolve. Before A New Old Play, his first fiction film, six other films reveal an art of portraiture that combines the intimacy of the subject with the history of China to unfold the story of individuals ravaged and overwhelmed by circumstance. The crazy ambition of A New Old Play is to manufacture (and this word takes on many concrete forms on screen) a kind of story that counters official history. Spanning half a century, the film unfurls its detailed and paranoid vision like a roll, encompassing the tradition of Sichuan Opera (the filmmaker was initiated to this at a very early age by his actor-grandfather), painting, shadow theatre, and a family and collective story. As the actor-narrator rekindles his memories and negotiates his reincarnation at the Gates of Hell, the artifices of studio shooting are what construct a precious resistance to oblivion. JB
French Premiere
