Stage Sisters

New York Restoration Premiere
Stage Sisters
舞台姐妹
Dir. by Xie Jin
1964. 112 min. 2K DCP. Color.

In Mandarin, with English subtitles
Restoration by L’Immagine Ritrovata for the Shanghai International Film Festival

In this lush backstage drama set in the decades leading up to 1949, a pair of Chinese opera actresses sing their way from the countryside to the city and back again. Caught up in Cultural Revolution power struggles, veteran director Xie Jin’s portrait of female solidarity and awakening political consciousness was banned almost immediately but revived in the 1980s as a masterpiece of Chinese filmmaking, and is now newly released in this magnificent 4K digital restoration.

Part of the series China Onscreen Biennial.