Memories, Storytelling, and Intermediality in the Film World of Qiu Jiongjiong 邱炯炯
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A New Old Play

椒麻堂會

2021, Fiction, 179 mins

Trailer: A New Old Play

A New Old Play

  • Year 2021
  • Category Fiction
  • Runtime 179 mins

Screening Session

  • March 18, 2024 2:00PM - 5:00PM

Post-Screening Discussion

  • March 18, 2024 5:00PM - 5:45PM

Post-screening discussion with:
Director Qiu Jiongjiong and
Dr. Yu Xuying (Metropolitan University)
Moderated by Miss Lin Yiping (HKU)
*Conducted in Mandarin

Synopsis

One evening in the 1980s, Qiu Fu, a leading clown-role actor in 20th-century Sichuan opera, departs this world and must reluctantly set off for the Ghost City under escort of two underworld officials. Along the way, he meets old friends. As they recall the past, earthly scenes creep into the mists of the Netherworld.

Qiu Fu’s life in opera unfolds against the backdrop of a secular upheaval. The "New-New'' Troupe in which he grows up and learns his trade is affiliated with the military. As power shifts, the troupe is cast loose to wander rootlessly through a broken world. Despite this unsettled destiny, shaped by war, famine and political turmoil, Qiu Fu becomes one of the finest clown-role performers in Sichuan opera. And yet, one day he finds himself clapped in a pigsty as a political revolution rages outside.

Outside the Ghost City, sitting among familiar faces, Qiu Fu drinks the mandatory bowl of Forgetfulness Soup to erase his memory. A lifetime of hardship, pain and sorrow, all vanish as if they had never been.

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