Festival Moon

Dir: Zhu Shilin
Scrs: Shen Ji (uncredited), Zhu Shilin
Prod Co: Feng Huang
Cast: Han Fei, Ella Kiang, Kung Chiu-hsia, Lü Ning, Tong Yi
1953 | B&W | DCP | Cantonese (Dubbed) | 97min

Zhu Shilin’s Festival Moon was Feng Huang’s inaugural picture. Its examination of Hong Kong’s social problems as well as intimate portrait of ordinary people’s everyday lives and relationships helped establish the film company’s creative direction in its early days: an emphasis on social realism and explorations of morality. The Mid-Autumn Festival is traditionally a family occasion; but in modern capitalistic society, the custom of gifting has taken on a materialistic, opportunistic nature, with the rich lavishing to celebrate while the poor struggling to keep up.
 
The film begins on the eve of the Festival, as a white-collar worker struggles to afford presents for his boss and sister’s in-laws. He has to raise funds to pay for his son’s schooling and pay back a debt, which he borrowed to pay for a previous festival! What is meant to be a happy, festive occasion turns into a highly stressful situation. Remaining true to his compassionate, humanist approach to storytelling, Zhu offers an equable but heart-felt critique of feudal practices and class hierarchy. The film in fact echoes the ‘no gifts’ precept of the ‘Four No’s’ principle proposed in 1950 by progressive filmmakers immigrated from the Mainland.
 
Festival Moon is one of Zhu’s most representative works, with its themes and ideas masterfully expressed through the framework of a family melodrama. Idealised familial scenes of the kindly mother, the good wife, and the pious son are sensitively and touchingly staged; and the hardships and challenges faced by the family during such a festive time effectively provoke empathy and reflections.

The contents of the programme do not represent the views of the presenter. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.