A Life in Shadows

A film by Edward A. Burger, 2023

filmed in Shaanxi Province, China / 57 minutes / 2K / Stereo / 16:9 / Mandarin w/ English subtitles

PURCHASE A LIFE IN SHADOWS - coming soon

In a small hilltop hamlet in Shaanxi Province, a group of storytellers, musicians and puppet masters perform shadow puppet theater to celebrate special occasions, appease ghosts and send thanks to wish-granting spirits.  Farmers by day, these skilled artists wash their hands each night to take their place upon the stage of China’s history and heritage. But modernity lays it’s heavy hand upon this ancient art. Director Edward Burger takes us into the world of shadows with a storybook narrative and a documentary portrait of this art-form's modern-day struggle to survive. 

 

To learn more about Chinese Shadow Puppetry: