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SCREENING

My Mother’s Rhapsody

Sunday, Jan 29, 2023 at 1:15 pm

Location: Bartos Screening Room

My Mother’s Rhapsody 萱堂闲话录 (Xuantiang xianhua lu) 

Dir. Qiu Jiongjiong. 2011, 106 mins. In Chinese with English subtitles. The “mother” of the title is Lin Zhiguang, the mother of director Qiu Jiongjiong’s father. This thoroughly entertaining film is Qiu’s expansive family chronicle, a documentary in the form of an art-folk tale. Lin, born to a wealthy family in 1926, lived through the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Revolution, and the Anti-Rightist Campaign. A formidable seamstress, cook, and manager, she had seven children with her husband, Wang Junhui, a ticket seller for the famous itinerant Sichuan opera troupe Xinyouxin. Mother Lin tells her story with confidence and a twinkle-eyed charisma, while Qiu frames and fragments her tales with amusing visual disruptions. This is both a key background to Qiu’s A New Old Play and a delightful portrait of an extraordinary woman. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.