Film Screening: “Self-Portrait: Fairy Tale in 47KM” (Zhang Mengqi, 2021)

Event details Date: Friday, October 23, 2026 Time: 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM Location: Rubenstein Arts Center, Film Theater Type: Global / International About this event ---Zhang Mengqi, 2021, 109 min, China, Chinese with English subtitles--- Director's Statement: This is the ninth film of my "47 KM" series. In 2019, I spent my tenth winter in "47 KM" village. On one of the village's hills, a new space is coming into being, from children's drawing paper to the solid ground, from a fairy tale to the reality. Why did I name this film "Fairy Tale"? Why do we need fairy tales? In 2020, I started editing this film. It was a special year. It seems to me to be a reboot, a reconfirmation of the present and the future. About the filmmaker: Zhang Mengqi was born in 1987. Filmmaker and choreographer, a founding member of the Folk Memory Project. Mengqi has made 11 feature-length documentaries, known as "Self-Portrait series." Her films have been selected by BFI London Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, and Visions du Réel, among others. Her films won the "White Goose Award" in DMZ International Documentary Film Festival; "BIFF Mecenat Award" in Busan International Film Festival; "The Jean Vigo prize for best Director"; "The youth prize for best film in Punto de Vista and "Best Feature Film" in Festival internacional de cine independiente de cosquín; "International Competition Award of Excellence" in Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. Her choreographic work has been performed in Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (France), ImPuls Tanz (Austria), Eurokaz (Croatia), and the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Germany). Official event details: https://calendar.duke.edu/show?fq=id%3ACAL-8a002cbd-9fb2e569-01a0-e8fab3af-00006c5bdemobedework%40mysite.edu