China, 2007
DigiBeta, Mandarin w/ English s/t, 99 min.
US Premiere
Bought for 1,000 yuan, 11-year old Xiao Ezi (“Little Moth”) can’t walk, but her new “parents,” Luo Jiang and his wife Guihua, have a use for her, as they’re trying their luck at a new trade: begging in the streets. First-time director Peng Tao extracts masterful performances from his non-professional actors, and, for a haunting moment, we share the gaze of a little girl staring at the off-screen void.
Followed by Lu Yue: Thirteen Princess Trees (Shisanke Paotong)
China, 2006
35mm, Mandarin w/ English s/t, 98 min.
US Premiere
This bracing look at a year in the lives of a group of high-school delinquents refreshingly features a teenage girl at the center. Feng has trouble at home, and runs with the tough crowd at school. When a new boy transfers from Lhasa, he seems at first to be a roughneck, but the film turns ever so delicately on Feng’s shift in perspective and sexual interest. Director Lu Yue (Mr. Zhao) is also an accomplished cinematographer, best-known for his work with Zhang Yimou on Shanghai Triad.