Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) 2022 presents
South Node of the Moon
by Tianding He
Country: United States | Running Time: 96 | Language: Chinese (Mandarin) | Year Of Release: 2020
About South Node of the Moon
SOUTH NODE OF THE MOON tells a story in summer 2001, when the makeshift houses in southern Beijing are going to be demolished. Di Guo (Xiaoxiao Sun), a college student, comes back to visit the family of Auntie Yuan (Harmony Gong), where he had been fostered for seven years. Upon arrival, he meets Yuan’s adopted daughter, Ci’er (Puyang “Flo” Tian). After being apart for so many years, this night’s reunion brings out their covered memories and childhood trauma……
Director: Tianding He
Actors: Puyang Tian, Weijia Gong, Xiaoxiao Sun
STREAM THE FULL FILM HERE
“Bonds. Trauma. An obsession with pain.
“Millennium”, “Beijing Silo Buildings” and “Demolition”, the story in The South Node of the Moon takes place in a very specific time and place, but tells the shared agony and despair in human nature. The three characters in the play are either abandoned, bullied, or mind-controlled. These traumas are created by history and society, yet for the individuals, they are like a predestined doom. Even if they find the cause and effect, they are still powerless. It sounds like they are all wretched people, right? But this tragedy of fate, besides bringing unbearable pain, the sympathy of “good people”, the contempt of the cold-blooded, what else has it brought? The victims of tragedy resemble clear water punctuated with thick black ink. As the darkness of depression slowly diffuses, they gradually become the darkness itself, magnetizing with the same pain and deformity. Is there indeed a way to be completely free from trauma? Or is it possible that after trying everything, one finds that the pain is the only thing that keeps one alive? Without it, one ceases to exist ……
“2020”, “New York, USA”, “Global Quarantine” – when the play was brought back to the virtual stage, it was also in a very particular but radically different context. But those evils and traumas continue unabated. Twenty years after the play, the sins of the past are festering and intensifying in our present lives, but few people are aware of them. I hope that, after watching this piece, everyone will be able to get out of the disorienting moonless night. It may not be light beyond this dark night, but the contemplation on the absurdity, cruelty and distortion of human nature will keep you from drowning.” -Tianding He
About Tianding He
Tianding He is a director, puppeteer, curator and producer of hybrid performances originally from China. She is the founding artistic director of B·O·N·D International Virtual Performance Festival. As Artistic Director, she cultivates international artists and programs virtual performance for over 250000 audience. As an artist, she focuses on creating inclusive, intercultural and experimental theatre and performances with global artists.
Recent directing credits include inclusive performance: Imaginarium in CSL, virtual theatre: South Node of the Moon, immersive theatre: The White Night(Margo Feiden Gallery), Versailles 2.0 (Shanghai Theatre Academy); puppetry show: Warning! Apocalypse!(International Virtual Toy Theatre Festival) and Me, You, He & She(Dixon Place); physical theatre: Plastic Mirror and Invisible Days (UNFIX Festival); and performance arts: Getting Lost with Yoko Ono in NYC. She also produced Off-Broadway shows: The Romantic Misadventures of Ah Q (Theatre Row), A Language of Their Own (IATI Theatre) and line-produced Be HERE Now Reopening Party (HERE). Her two master’s degrees were at Tisch school of Arts in NYU and Hunter College, while she is pursuing a PhD at UCI and UCSD.
About The Festival
The Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) is an annual event showcasing films drawn from the world of theatre and performance. The festival presents experimental, emerging, and established theatre artists and filmmakers from around the world to audiences and industry professionals. The 7th annual festival will focus on work for the screen created by theatre artists during the Time of Corona. The festival will be held digitally from March 1st – 15th 2022.
Watch South Node of the Moon from March 1st to March 15th 2022 on the Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) website.
Support this film by Director: Tianding He/ Actors: Puyang Tian, Weijia Gong, Xiaoxiao Sun by making a direct donation to them at the following details: Venmo: @MonaLisa-He
Read more about Director: Tianding He/ Actors: Puyang Tian, Weijia Gong, Xiaoxiao Sun and South Node of the Moon at (https://tiandingcybersoma.me) or get in touch at hetiandingtheatre@gmail.com / Instagram: @monalisa007
