InstituteFestivalProfessionals
EN/NL
Donate
Loading...
MyIDFA
Ballad of Roaming Spirits
About IDFA
Archive
Ballad of Roaming Spirits
IDFA 2019

Ballad of Roaming Spirits

Li Xiaofeng, Kai Jia
China
2019
81 min
World Premiere
Festival history

Since his wife left him, Jun has been a wandering soul who wonders what purpose all his suffering serves. In a simple farming village surrounded by barren hills, he takes care of a small temple. He looks at his hands: his right is blessed, and his left is deformed. He believes he has healing abilities and goes from house to house to help the sick.

As the seasons pass, this gently-paced portrait of the wandering Jun is interwoven with impressions of village life, with its rituals and festivals, and poverty that makes many people desperate, and some defiant. 

Two sheep, destined to be sacrificed, add a grimly poetic note to this uncompromising and moving meditation on fate and the search for meaning. The body cam worn by one of the sheep also makes for some surprising shots. Meanwhile, Jun’s musings gradually reveal more about the crises he has had to endure and the reason for his self-sacrifice.

Credits
Director
Sound Design
    Cao Yi
    Cao Yi
Screening copy
    41documentary film production
    41documentary film production
World Sales
    41documentary film production
    41documentary film production

Videos

Images

0
1
2