The Old Village
Country/Region:
China Mainland
Release Year: 2022
Release Year: 2022
Publish Date: 08 August 2049 00:00:00 UTC
Story:
The Old Village tells a story of everyday life in “ruins” in rural Kunming, China. This place was “dead” due to the urban demolition. Meanwhile, it continues to “live” in “places” where the hand of urbanization could not touch. The film is a product of team-based anthropological fieldwork in Hongren Village for over ten years, led by Professor Zhu Xiaoyang and his students at Peking University. It is the third ethnographic film after the production of Homeland [2009] and The Eastern Shore of Dianchi Lake [2013]. The prelude of The Old Village is a retrospective part of its predecessors, giving a clear social background for the audience. The encounter between the spontaneous urbanization and the forced demolition, between politics and beliefs and lives-and-deaths, is internal to everyday life flows. It frames the film that traces such unspeakable flows of encounters. The audience will see gardens emerging in the urban ruins, fennels in the “bedroom”, and happy carpenters and masons working together to repair the almost collapsed village temple. A mason’s mother died on the day of repair completion. In the care of her family and neighbors, the old lady’s spirit “walked” along the boundary of the old village and concluded her funeral.
The Old Village tells a story of everyday life in “ruins” in rural Kunming, China. This place was “dead” due to the urban demolition. Meanwhile, it continues to “live” in “places” where the hand of urbanization could not touch. The film is a product of team-based anthropological fieldwork in Hongren Village for over ten years, led by Professor Zhu Xiaoyang and his students at Peking University. It is the third ethnographic film after the production of Homeland [2009] and The Eastern Shore of Dianchi Lake [2013]. The prelude of The Old Village is a retrospective part of its predecessors, giving a clear social background for the audience. The encounter between the spontaneous urbanization and the forced demolition, between politics and beliefs and lives-and-deaths, is internal to everyday life flows. It frames the film that traces such unspeakable flows of encounters. The audience will see gardens emerging in the urban ruins, fennels in the “bedroom”, and happy carpenters and masons working together to repair the almost collapsed village temple. A mason’s mother died on the day of repair completion. In the care of her family and neighbors, the old lady’s spirit “walked” along the boundary of the old village and concluded her funeral.
Runtime :
93
minutes
Language :
Chinese, English
Subtitles :
Chinese,English
iMDB :
Douban :
Festivals&Awards :
Tags :
#China, #countryside, #funeral
Director‘s Statement
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