Time: 19.30 – Sunday October 4, 2015
Cinema 2
19.30
71 min
Netherlands 2015
Chinese with Dutch subtitles
Followed by Q&A with the director
‘You must know the past in order to enter the future’. That is the motto of the Chinese composer Guo Wenjing. Especially for this documentary by Frank Scheffer he composed a chamber opera for the Nieuwe Ensemble in which he combines the traditional folk opera of his native Sichuan with his own contemporary music. The screening begins with a documentary that Scheffer made about the origin and context of the composition. Then we see the complete composition of Guo Wenjing ‘Si Fan’ filmed in Amsterdam just after the world premiere, which took place at the Holland Festival 2015. While the singer, dressed in traditional costume, tells the old story of a young nun who craves a life with a man outside the monastery, the music juxtaposes the rapid developments in China right now opposite its centuries-old culture: the inner landscape of a young Chinese woman, a fascinating country and one of the most interesting Chinese composers at this time.
Director: Frank Scheffer – Camera: Melle van Essen, Joewi Verhoeven, Jean Counet, Benito Strangio, Lucas van Woerkum – Sound: Menno Euwe, Jin Qiao – Editor: Menno Boerema – Production China & assistant director: Jia Zhao – Post production: Xiaoyan Li, Erik Pezarro – With: Guo Wenjing, Shen Tiemei, Ed Spanjaard, Nieuw Ensemble, Sichuan opera ensemble, Geluidsmix: Mark Glynne – Geluids opnamen studio: Guido Tichelman – Commissioning editor BOS: Babeth VanLoo – Producer BOS: Laetitia Schoofs – Producers: Selfmade Films & Pieter van Huystee Film, in coproduction with BOS