01 / 06
01 / 06
Mr. Zhang Believes
痴
QIU Jiongjiong
- 135 min
- 2015
- Docu-Fiction
- Sichuanese Dialect, Mandarin
- English and Chinese Subtitles
Content Advisory: This film contains scenes of coarse language, mature themes, tobacco use, disturbing content
10:00 AM, SAT, OCT 17
Innis Town Hall
Screening + Director Q&A
The film recounts a 30-year chapter of China’s mid-20th-century history through the story of Mr. ZHANG Xianchi and the interacting forms of theatrical fiction and documentary autobiography. Born into a Nationalist (KMT) family in the 1930s, ZHANG was a progressive young "leftist" and Communist Party supporter, then, after the founding of the New China in 1949, was dubbed a counter-revolutionary "rightist"––a public enemy–and jailed in 1957 for 23 years.
Director
QIU Jiongjiong (b. 1977, Leshan, Sichuan Province) is a Chinese contemporary artist and filmmaker. Since 2006, he has developed a distinctive cinematic language marked by vivid dialect dialogue, theatrical mise-en-scène, and stylized characterizations. The local history of Leshan and the history of his family, which has deep roots in traditional Sichuan opera, recur throughout his work.
His filmography includes two documentary shorts, Ode to Joy (2008) and Portrait of Mr. Huang (2009); four documentary features, The Moon Palace (2007), Madame (2010), My Mother’s Rhapsody (2011), and Mr. Zhang Believes (2015); and his first fiction feature, A New Old Play (2021). Several of his earlier works were selected among the “Best Ten Documentaries of the Year” at the China Independent Film Festival. Mr. Zhang Believes premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival and has since screened internationally, including at the 15th MoMA Documentary Fortnight. A New Old Play won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno, the Firebird Award for Best Film and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Young Jury Award at the Festival des 3 Continents, among other honours.
Credits
- DirectorQIU Jiongjiong
- Principal CastZHANG Xinwei, MA Xiao’ou, CAI Yifan, YANG Cheng, CHEN Dongmei, YI Sicheng
- ProducerQIU Jiongjiong, KONG Lihong
- ScreenplayQIU Jiongjiong
- CinematographerPENG Fan
- EditorQIU Jiongjiong
- SoundLOU Kun
- MusicDIAO Lili