Read an introduction to Qiu's work here.

Qiu Jiongjiong’s brilliant fiction-documentary hybrid is based on the life of Zhang Xianchi, a so-called “rightist” persecuted for his unorthodox beliefs. But Qiu turns this source into something extraordinary: a mixture of first- person testimony, filmed theatre, historical fantasy, and social realist drama, interspersed with vivid surreal tableaux. 

Born into a family who supported the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) in the 1930s, Zhang became a progressive young “leftist” and Communist Party supporter after betraying his Nationalist father. Zhang joined the Communist Youth League and attended military college. Two years later, stigmatized by his family background, he lost his job and turned to journalism. In 1958, he was sentenced to five years of re-education through labor. 

Qiu’s sharply photographed black and white images transmute Zhang’s story to a mythic theatrical scale, where intimate, heart-breaking family drama, and the historical—Chairman Mao and Generalissimo Chiang make cameo appearances—mutually resonate. Incisive political cinema and essential viewing. Description by Shelly Kraicer.