Ode to Joe
Qiu Jiongjiong
Release year: 2008
Run time: 31 mins
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
I grew up in a fairy-tale family atmosphere - my grandfather and I would naturally have a "play" of songs and dances when we met.
He would bring me into a world with his great attraction, a world that I recognized to a great extent. Being with my grandfather was a living pleasure. After his death I felt detached and even alienated from everything and everyone. But the most important thing about this impermanent experience for my life
But the most important thing that this experience of impermanence did for my life was that it taught me to be lonely - and from then on I was left to my own devices.
Director biography
Qiu Jiongjiong's experiences growing up have made him something of an eccentric in the art community: he began painting at age two and at age three he began performing local opera (his grandfather was a famous Sichuanese Opera performer). From a young age he dreamed of becoming an artist, and at 18 he left school to pursue this career. In 2007 he completed his first film, Moon Palace, a 100-minute film documenting his father's life.