Diago

Colour, 35 mm
China, 2010, 89 min
WP – World premiere
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

The film adaptation of the novel by Macanese writer Lio Chi Heng marks the 10th anniversary of the transfer of the Portuguese colony of Macau to Chinese administration. The year is 1999 and Macau television ceaselessly informs the population of preparations for the upcoming handover. In the atmosphere of the changing society, when some submit to Chinese lessons and others consider emigration, the movie’s protagonist begins to investigate his own identity. Now more than ever he senses his Portuguese- Macanese roots, which always prevented him from feeling at home with his stepfather and sister. The title character’s pilgrimage opens up the theme of the search for personal and social identity on the threshold of postcolonial life; at the time of the transfer it represented a pressing issue for the majority of Macau’s inhabitants. In long, austere sequences imbued with melancholy, the narration captures feelings of dispossession, but it also offers hope, an ineluctable element of every quest.

About the director

Chi Zhang  (b. 1977, Beijing) found work directing for China Central Television (CCTV) in 2000-2004 after graduating from Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama. After leaving the station, he began a career as a movie director and screenwriter. In 2007 Tokyo Trial (Dobgjing shenpan, 2006) added a Chinese national award for Best Screenplay to his professional credits, a prize he shared with his three co-writers. His feature The Shaft (Dixia de Tiankong, 2008) had its world premiere in the competition of the 43rd KVIFF and then screened at numerous other festivals.