Cutting light to shadow

Cutting light to shadow

XIAO Runqi • 2025

Duration: 00:30:10
Language: Mandarin, Tengchong dialect
Subtitles: Chinese, English
Country/Region: Mainland China

Cutting Light to Shadow documents the Tengchong Liu Family Shadow Puppet Troupe: Elder artists adhere to tradition while the younger generation innovates in dissemination, presenting the conflict between the old and the new and the predicament of intangible cultural heritage inheritance.

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

Ethnografilm Paris

France

2026

International Folklore Film Festival

India

2025

Best Academic Exploration Award

Chinese Music Ethnographic Film Festival

China

2024

First Prize

Sichuan Province College Students' Intangible Cultural Heritage Video Innovation Competition

China

2024

Outstanding Student Film

Film and Video Anthropology Branch of the Chinese Society of Ethnology

China

2024

Macau International Movie Festival

Macau

2024

Core Journal "Chinese Music"

China

2024

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

XIAO Runqi

XIAO Runqi

Director

In Tengchong City, Yunnan Province, China,an ancient art from the Central Plains is passed down - shadow play. Two hundred years ago, the shadow play tradition came here, took root in this land, and developed its own outstanding characteristics. This film focuses on the scenes of Tengchong shadow play, not only showing how the old artists protect the traditional skills with their vicissitudes of life, but also keenly capturing the innovative attempts of the younger generation of inheritors. Light travels through shadows to become a play, which continues to thrive in the south of the colorful clouds… A lamp, a curtain, and a variety of human life.

TRAILER

Cutting light to shadow - TRAILER

FILM STILLS