Red Amnesia

• Original Title CHUANGRU ZHE
• Country People’s Republic of China
• Original Language Mandarin
• Director Wang Xiaoshuai
• Producer Liu Xuan, Xu Lin, Leah Xu, Jiang Wei, Isabelle Glachant
• Run Time 115 mins

AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE

“Xiashuai’s Red Amnesia shares many similarities with Michael Haneke’s Hidden (2005) and he is exploring a similarly political act of wilful forgetting and guilt.” – Cine-vue

Completing what Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai describes as his Cultural Revolution trilogy, following Shanghai Dreams and 11 Flowers, this taut thriller looks at the ever-widening generational divide beleaguering contemporary China.

Veteran Chinese stage actress Lü Zhong brings a brilliant performance as the recently widowed Deng, who is certain the ghost of her husband still resides in their apartment. But when she starts receiving mysterious phone calls, followed by more sinister incursions, Deng fears that darker ghosts from her past may be haunting her.

Reflecting on how rapid shifts in China’s social fabric left an entire generation feeling unmoored; also present is the lingering effect of guilt and memory from the country’s turbulent past.

Selected in official competition in this year’s Venice Film Festival, Red Amnesia is a cinematic and creeping mystery that ultimately packs a powerful punch.