Shun Li and the Poet

by


Andrea Serge, Italy/France, 2011, 100 min.
With: Tao Zhao, Rade Serbedzija
In Italian, with English Subtitles
Winner, FEDIC Award, Laterna Magica Prize & Lina Mangiacapre Award, Venice Film Festival; Satyajit Ray Award, London Film Festival
Canadian Premiere

Saturday, 3 November 2012, 9:00 PM, Carlton Cinema

Sunday, 4 November 2012, 2:00 PM, Innis Tawn Hall

Watch trailer here

Shun Li works in a textile factory in the outskirts of Rome. She left her family behind in China and moved to Italy in the hope she would be able to grant her son a brighter future. To do so, she became indebted and has a large sum to pay back.  Until the debt is extinguished, she will not be able to obtain the required papers allowing her small child to join her. One day Shun Li is transferred to Chioggia, a small insular city in the North of the country. Here she is employed as a barmaid and as such she gets acquainted with the bar’s regulars, a strange and somewhat colorful collection of characters. Among them is Bepi AKA “the Poet”, a former fisherman of Slavic origins. As they spend time together, Shun Li and Bepi find they have many points in common, but their eagerness to develop a deeper friendship will be opposed by their respective communities.