A New Old Play (2022)

Wissenswertes

A New Old Play is a 2021 epic film directed and written by Qiu Jiongjiong. As Qiu's seventh film, it marks his first fictional feature. A co-production between Hong Kong's Uluka Productions and France's Hippocampe Productions, the film stars Yi Sicheng as Qiu Fu, a recently deceased Sichuan opera actor, alongside Guan Nan, Qiu Zhimin, Gu Tao, and Xue Xuchun. The story chronicles Qiu Fu's life and career in China from the 1920s to the 1980s through his remembrances during his journey into the netherworld, featuring events such as the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, the Great Chinese Famine, and the Cultural Revolution.

Production

Qiu Fu, the grandfather of director Qiu Jiongjiong, was a Sichuan opera actor who gained fame for playing chou roles in the 1930s and 1940s throughout Sichuan. He died in 1987 when Qiu Jiongjiong was ten years old. Growing up in Leshan, Sichuan, Qiu Jiongjiong developed an interest in Sichuan opera influenced by his grandfather, which ultimately inspired him to pursue a career in filmmaking.

Qiu Jiongjiong began writing the screenplay in May 2017 and completed it in February 2018, taking about seven months to finish a script that exceeded 100,000 words. He based the story on his father's biography, along with some additional background research. It marks Qiu's seventh film and first fictional feature.

Qiu drew inspiration from his personal experiences and Sichuanese culture for the portrayal of clowns, noting that Sichuanese people are known for their optimism and dark sense of humour despite facing fate and suffering, qualities he found resonant with clowns' modest demeanor and playful exterior.

Most of the actors and crew members are Qiu's family and friends, with many crew members also appeared in minor roles in the film. He cast them because he wanted to tell the story "locally", and described the shoot as a "party" among his closed ones. Yi Sicheng, a film festival curator who befriended Qiu at the YunFest Film Festival and made a brief appearance in Mr. Zhang Believes, was invited by Qiu to star in the lead role.

Set construction spanned about six months. The shoot took place entirely at a factory owned by a friend of Qiu's, with the production set constructed in a textile mill covering approximately 400 square meters (~4,306 square feet). A white shed was also built in the factory's parking lot, bringing the total size of the sets to about 1,000 square meters (~10,764 square feet). It was also the filming location for Qiu's previous film Mr.

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