To Live to Sing(HKAFF 2019)

For the highly anticipated follow-up to his gripping directorial debut Old Stone, Chinese-Canadian director Johnny Ma delivers a total change of pace with this compassionate story of a failing Sichuanese opera troupe. Based in Chengdu, the troupe lives and performs in run-down industrial spaces. Even as its members spend their days traveling the city on a motorcycle to attract audiences, the bulldozers have already started closing in. Blending reality and fiction into a beautifully crafted package, this loving tribute to a dying traditional art is another strong effort from a major talent on the rise.