European Premiere of Aunt Jiang

Director / Cinematographer / Editor: Zeng Tangni

Cast: Jiang Fei, Zhang Yihan, Li Xinmiao, Yang Wenlong, Zheng Tianci, Zhang Shiyu

Special Cast: Tian Yajuan, Zhang Fushan, Zhang Lijuan

Music Performer: Ishibashi Miko

Production Year: 2023

Film Genre: Documentary

Production Country/Region: Chinese Mainland, Malaysia

Language: Northeast Dialect, Mandarin Chinese

Duration: 174 minutes

Subtitles: Chinese and English Subtitles

Film Synopsis

A grassroots opera troupe from Northeast China makes a living by performing traditional operas and embracing livestreaming as a new way to get by. They linger on the fringes of society and face the trials of life and death, yet they never sink into despair, brimming instead with vibrant vitality.

Filmmaker Recommendation

Aunt Jiang is a traditional Northeast Errenzhuan piece, yet the documentary bearing the same title breaks all conventions. Over more than ten days of filming, the director adopted a diary-style narrative akin to a running account to create a work lasting nearly three hours, a approach distinct from that of most documentary filmmakers. When we try to seek meaning from observing the mundane, the pursuit of meaning itself becomes futile. Appearance is all there is, and a fleeting glance holds the answers to a lifetime. Fantasy and reality blend seamlessly. Amid ordinary breaths and casual outbursts, all deliberate contemplation is deconstructed, laying bare the inner spiritual world of the majority.

— Zhuo Kailuo

Director Introduction

Tony Zeng

曾汤尼

Tony Zeng is a director, writer, Doctor of Philosophy and associate senior art researcher, as well as a recipient of the Malaysian Prime Minister's Award. He has served as a judge and recommending expert for the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, the 13th Beijing International Film Festival and the 10th Silk Road International Film Festival. His literary work South of the South is collected in the libraries of Tsinghua University, Fudan University and the National Library of Singapore. His directed work A Walk by the Lake was included in Zhang Xianmin's annual recommendation list "Top 10 Picks 2". The documentary Aunt Jiang was selected into the 2024 Annual Documentary Recommendation List of Aotujing.

Green Ray Recommendation

Aunt Jiang is the latest work by Zeng Tangni, a young director residing in Malaysia, following his 2020 production Walk by the Lake. This three-hour documentary uses raw and vivid footage to chronicle an amateur opera troupe active in Changtu County, Liaoning Province in Northeast China in a straightforward manner. Beneath the bustling and even noisy surface of daily life lies the hidden struggles and hardships of people across an era. The film centers on Aunt Jiang, a cross-dressing performer. It depicts the stark contrast between her everyday appearance and her cross-gender performances as a female role, known as a Dan role in Peking Opera. It also captures scenes of the troupe led by her traveling around for performances. The work not only reflects the director's consistent focus on topics such as transgender identity and gender fluidity, but also echoes the emphasis on marginal groups and regional boundaries seen in some of his previous works.

Beneath the vivid black-and-white footage, the characters lay bare their genuine emotions and present their unvarnished daily lives. Through the director's calm and objective lens, the modern predicament facing the inheritance and continuation of folk arts such as Errenzhuan in Northeast China comes to light. Just like the character Hong Yue'e in the film title, no matter how formidable her martial arts skills are, she may ultimately wake up with a start to find it all nothing but a dream.

Screening Information

This film had its European premiere at Atlas Cinema at 19:00 on Monday, June 16, 2025.

The specific venue was LJ Works, Loughborough Junction, 5 Gastineau Yard, Loughborough SW9 7FA.

Photos from the screening event