Country: Hong Kong
Language: Mandarin
Year: 2003
Running Time: 110 min
A documentary on the legacy of China’s traditional kunqu opera, BREAKING THE WILLOW tells the story of two Chinese women of different dynasty and society, and their personal link to a bejeweled Phoenix Tierra. Cui, a woman of humble background dreams her husband to gain her the Phoenix Tierra but when the dream comes true, it turns out to be too late. Hsiao Yu, a beautiful songstress from a royal decent of the past dynasty, meets the First Scholar and falls in love. The day after their wedding, the husband is called for the frontier. The fallen Princess wears the Phoenix Tierra to bid him farewell with poets.
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Fong WANG
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Jiqing ZHANG
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Wenlin ZHAO
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Official Selection – Venice Film International Festival
Born in Hunan Province, China, Yonfan moved with his parents to Taiwan in 1950. He grew up in Taichung and moved to Hong Kong (which has been his home-base ever since) in 1965. In the late 1960s he traveled and studied in Europe and America. He began directing in 1984. He writes, designs and executive-produces his own films. His international breakthrough came with BISHONEN, screened with great success in the Berlin Panorama in 1999. In 2003, he made his first documentary BREAKING THE WILLOW, on the legacy of China’s traditional kunqu opera. PRINCE OF TEARS, his twelfth feature, is the first he has made in Taiwan.
1984 A CERTAIN ROMANCE
1985 THE STORY OF ROSE
1986 IMMORTAL STORY
1987 DOUBLE FIXATION
1988 LAST ROMANCE
1990 PROMISING MISS BOWIE
1994 THE NEW AGE TO LIVING TOGETHER
1995 BUGIS STREET
1998 BISHONEN
2001 PEONY PAVILION
2003 BREAKING THE WILLOW
2004 COLOUR BLOSSOMS
2009 PRINCE OF TEARS