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Anqi Ju

Directing

Known For

A Missing Policeman

Beijing, Summer 1983. A group of young artists gathers in the hutongs for a dance party at the home of one of their friends when a policeman happens upon the scene. In the rigid times just after the Cultural Revolution, harsh punishments were dealt to those participating in activities deemed illegal. Several others had already been sentenced to execution by firing squad or been dealt life without parole for hosting similar parties. The policeman insists on arresting the young artists, and in a fit of panic, they beat him unconscious, deciding later to dig an underground prison where they keep him from then on. For thirty-three years, the artists guard the policeman in shifts. Over these thirty-three years, China goes through a massive transformation unbeknownst to the policeman until the summer of 2016 when he escapes…

A Missing Policeman

2016Movie
Poet on a Business Trip
3.7

In 2002, Ju Anqi made a film about a tour by the poet Shu through Xinjiang, the most western-lying, autonomous Uyghur province of China. All that we know about Shu is that he plays a poet who sends himself on a business trip - an absurd, satirical starting point that sets the tone for the film. For a variety of reasons, it was not until 2013 that Ju started editing the rough, lyrical material that he had shot in what is now a very restless Xinjiang: it's like an excellent wine that has had time to mature. Structured around 16 poems which he wrote on the road, Shu’s physically exhausting journey takes him along endless rocky roads, passing shabby inns and through impressive landscapes from one prostitute to the next. In its documentary authenticity, Poet on a Business Trip is also an historic document that exudes an atmosphere of loss, providing an unsentimental yet melancholy glimpse of a country in transition and a mirror for the existential irreversibility of time. (c) iffr.com

Poet on a Business Trip

2015Movie
Night in China

China today resembles night - filled with imagination. For a long period of time China was a country that did not like to discuss darkness or night. For decades the "Red Sun" was the most direct form of allowed imagination. Under today's sun office buildings and construction sights dominate one's vision. But in the evening everything changes, and you can see the spiritual life of the people. Evenings everywhere provide us with an opportunity to see ourselves, as through a mirror's reflection. In the evenings humanity is always more sensitive and vulnerable. In its darkness we are cloaked in intimacy and obscurity. All through the day, people work hard to put on and maintain appearances, and daytime resembles a stage on which people perform. Yet during the evening we are able to wander backstage.

Night in China

2007Movie