GUAN
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Yi Cui / China / 2017 / 14 min / Colour
In Golok, in a pasture in the heights of Tibet, monks, herdsmen and children meet at a small festival where everyone is invited to present their own amateur films. This celebration unites the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, many of whom face long journeys on foot or horseback to participate. When night falls, the darkness turns on projected images and all the faces are concentrated, transfixed, on the big screen that sways in the wind. The silence is broken only by the murmuring of the monks or the barking of a dog, until the tremor of a laugh is heard and spreads among the audience. Delaying the moment in which she will show us what the gathered crowd is watching, the director takes us to the source of pleasure that characterised the origins of cinema, when the seventh art still preserved the luminous lightness of its beginnings as fair entertainment.
Yi Cui
A filmmaker born in China, but based in Washington, Yi Cui studied Film Production at York University in Toronto. Her work includes experimental films, documentaries, essay and fiction films. Of Shadows, her previous documentary, won the Libraries Award at Cinéma du Réel in 2016.
Credits
Subject Yi CuiCinematography Yi CuiSound Yi CuiEditing Yi CuiProduction company Ibidem Films