“The Neo-New Adventures" is a dark fairy tale typical of Sichuan
It's about a Sichuan opera clown actor
On the day of his death, Ox-head and Horse-face come to pick him up
And take him to "Fengdu (Chongqing ghost city)"
On the way, he met his dead old friend who opens an agritainment on Huangquan Road
They drink together and talk
And look back at the world on the other side
Qiu Jiongjiong | clown and daily odes
I was born and raised in Sichuan
I paint and make films
I've never received formal training
No academic education whatsoever
I learn by reading art history and film history word by word
And build my own understanding of art
In 2017
My father wrote a biography of my grandfather
In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of his death
And asked me to draw illustrations
15 illustrations
I felt unfullfilled
When I was done with the painting
So I started writing a script
In a local factory
I built a circus-like studio
To contain my wild imaginations
In the 400-square-meter studio
How you are going to complete your work
Is a real challenge
What we have is little while what we aspire is great
It is a long shot
But I really want to do it
We used a lot of panels and waste wood
Drew on them
Everything you see and hear
Is handmade by us
Pure manually, even kind of stupid
I'd say it's a naive film
You can see the smell of sweat and oil
Visually it's a slowly unfolding picture
The comic-like protagonist completes his life history in it
None of our actors is star
Ma'er is played by my father
The main actor is Yi Sicheng, a serious man
With ancient qualities
He plays my grandfather
I grew up with my grandfather in a troupe
He was known as the "Living dictionary of Sichuan Opera"
In the 80s, he worked very hard
To try to rescue traditional Sichuan Opera
He wouldn't turn back once he was determined
And I'm a lot like him
In 1987, my grandfather wanted to see my river lamp
A Mickey Mouse river lamp I made
He accidentally slipped from the 7th floor and fell to the 6th floor
And died
In such a decisive way
A clown met another clown
And finished his life as such
My work is also a succession of clown
The core spirit of clown
Is the insignificance of individual life
However petty and low a man is
When he is cornered
He'd make a face
Sichuan people have the spirit of clown
In the face of difficulties
You laugh at it
I dropped out of school the second year of high school
It was politics class
And I was reading Zhu Guangqian's "The History of Western Arts"
I was obsessed with art
So I wanted to leave the city (Leshan)
I went to Beijing when I was 17 years old
To study at a private college
And created works like my life depends on it
My parents were particularly disappointed in me in those days
I was like, just give me a few years
And I won the bet
In 2000, I had a double solo exhibition
Though everything was sold at low prices
It's the first step
Until 2006 I had some money in my pocket
Because my love for film had never changed
I bought a camera and started making films
As such I stepped on a new road
Before I was a painter, then a documentary film maker
The first half of the year I edited film
And the second half I painted
Many people see my films
But are not familiar with my paintings
So I have been trying to find a way
To integrate the two systems
“Through the Spirit Screen"
Is a report of the past 6 years
After "The Neo-New Adventures"
The flame has not yet burned out
A set of portraits of them (the protagonists) was painted
(In the past two years) painted a series, "Leshan Barbizon"
At the same time, I added my usual move
Such as reconstructing the history of art
Including cartoon characters
Like the black cat sheriff and the one-eared Van Gogh 102 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,640 The last painting of the stage
My producer and I
Also my lover Dingding
We sat at the monitoring screen
The two of us were a little tired
I have a stick in my hand
And a bump on my head
I'm terrified that my muse would desert me
So I have to constantly
Inspire myself as a daily routine
"The Neo-New Adventures" was premiered at the main competition section of Locarno
And won the jury award
Another surprise was that
On the same day, it also won the second prize of youth jury
Which means the younger generation got it too
"The Neo-New Adventures" is an important work of mine
It defines my 6 years of creation
It's an ode to daily life
An intertextuality of life and death
Clown grammar has always been my habit of expression
Madness mixed with bitterness, crying like a song
Any grand narrative must land on individuals