DOKU.ARTS
Zeughauskino Berlin
10.09.–12.10.2014

Actress

The small opera troupe Zhao Li in Sichuan province is the focus of this astonishing film by Zhao Gang. 16-year-old Dandan dreams of a great career as an actress and wants to break away from the strict maternal grip of the theatre company. We watch as cracks slowly appear on many different levels in the world of the little traditional theatre. Building works look like bringing the whole theatre down. One of the operas dissolves into a seemingly bizarre religious ceremony, in which Dandan becomes a sacred figure worshipped by the audience. The dividing line between fiction and reality becomes blurred. The audience, mainly elderly Chinese men, cry their eyes out. Are we witnessing the oft invoked catharsis in the theatre or watching the disappearance and meagre remains of an ancient tradition? A microcosm in upheaval. A masterly piece of direct cinema, unsettling, intense and up close in the life of a theatre which will soon cease to exist.