Ghost Town

Zhiziluo is a ghost town full of life.

Lisu and Nu minority villagers squat in the abandoned halls of this remote former communist county seat, where Cultural Revolution slogans fade into the shadows of the old city hall, and a blank white figure of Chairman Mao gazes out silently to the wild mountain wilderness of the Salween River Valley in China’s southwest Yunnan province.

The film has a three-part structure:

Voices tells the story of Yuehan, the pastor of the local Christian church, and his 87 year-old father, John the Elder, a formerly jailed Lisu pastor who was among the first in the region to study with Western missionaries before they were expelled in 1957. Voices exposes the personal rift between Yuehan and his father as well as questions over the past and future of the church.

Recollections is a story about two young lovers faced with substantial cultural and economic obstacles. The young man, Pu Biqiu, must decide whether to leave the ghost town for brighter prospects in the city, and his girlfriend faces the possibility of being sold into marriage to help the family with its financial woes.

Innocence tells the story of Ah Long, a twelve year-old boy who lives alone in the ghost town and idles his days away with youthful games. After toying with the ghosts of Lisu tradition (the boys revel in a traditional Lisu exorcism), Ah Long hurries off to church. —Lantern Films