Sacrificed Youth 青春祭
Sacrificed Youth
青春祭
(1985, 92 minutes, 35mm print)
Director: Zhang Nuanxin
During the Cultural Revolution, seventeen-year-old Li Chun, daughter of urban intellectuals, is sent to a mountainous village in a Tai (Dai) minority region in Yunnan. Assigned to a family that includes ‘Dadie’ (Father), ‘Yiya’ (Grandmother) and ‘Dage’ (Elder Brother), Li joins a brigade of women who chop bamboo. Envious of the Tai uninhibitedness and sensuality, Li eventually discards her Han clothing and demeanor to ‘go native’. Trouble arises when she befriends a male Chinese intellectual, named Ren Jia, and rejects the love of her ‘Dage’. To avoid the ensuing hostilities, Li leaves the village. Eventually permitted to return to the city, she comes back to the village upon learning of floods that have killed both her Tai family and her Chinese friend.
Retrospective of Chinese Women Directors (1950s - Present) Series
This film series will present the works of four remarkable women directors, each negotiating a perspective or commentary alternative to the mainstream cinema of the time. All films are in Chinese with English Subtitles. This is the fourth film of eight.