see also
original title:
Io sono Li
directed by:
cast:
Zhao Tao, Rade Serbedzija, Marco Paolini, Roberto Citran, Giuseppe Battiston, Giordano Bacci, Spartaco Mainardi, Zhong Cheng, Wang Yuan, Amleto Voltolina, Andrea Pennacchi, Guo Qiang Xu, Sara Perini, Federico Hu
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
set design:
costume design:
music:
producer:
production:
Jolefilm, Aeternam Films, Rai Cinema, Arte, with the support of Eurimages and Regione del Veneto
distribution:
country:
Italy, France
year:
2011
film run:
96'
format:
35mm - colour
release date:
23/09/2011
festivals & awards:
"Shun Li and the Poet" tells the story of the romantic and difficult friendship between a young immigrant Chinese woman and a fisherman of Slavic origin, on an island in the Venetian lagoon, which is undergoing a period of economic and social change.
After working in a textile factory in the outskirts of Rome, Shun Li is transferred to the small town of Chioggia: she works as a bartender in a tavern. Bepi, nicknamed "the Poet", has been attending the little inn for years...
"Shun Li and the Poet" tells of the encounter between two worlds in crisis: the world of those who have abandoned their roots and the one of those who feel their roots deeply transformed by economic growth.
These two worlds contact each other and realize that they have the same problem. Relying more to poetry than to reality, they try to save each other. A dream-like salvation, made possible by the charm of a place, Chioggia, the lagoon and the high Adriatic. Salvation, however, hampered by the contrast between their communities, the Italian and Chinese.