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TO LIVE TO SING - Quinzaine Des Réalisateurs

by Johnny Ma
China, France / 2019 / 104'
 

with Zhao Xiaoli, Gan Guidan, Yan Xihu

Production: IMAGE X PRODUCTIONS
International Sales: Films Boutique

Zhao Li is the manager of a small Sichuan Opera troupe of 11 members, living and performing together in a rundown theatre located in the outskirts of Chengdu, China.  But when she receives an order of demolition for the troupe theatre, Zhao Li hides the news from everyone else, fearing that this could spell the end of her opera troupe.  


Secretly, Zhao Li would not mind stopping since troupe life has become difficult over the years.  But what else can she do? Besides demolition, she also worries that her 17-year-old niece, Dan Dan - the starlet of the troupe - , will leave them for a better future in the city. To keep her troupe “family” together, Zhao Li begins to search for a new theatre for them to both sing and live in. As she struggles with modern government bureaucracy, her opera world slowly begins to seep into her real world. Just as Zhao Li uses opera performance as a way to escape from the troubles of her real life, soon characters from opera begin to show up in that real life... 

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