Year of the Fish

An animated independent feature film shot entirely on location in New York City’s Chinatown. It’s a modern-day adaptation of “Cinderella”. Kaplan’s screenplay is based on a 9th Century Chinese variant of the folk-tale, the oldest known version of the story, recorded some 800 years before the European versions. The animation was created with an advanced algorithmic digital painting technology to achieve a living, fluctuating painterly look. The aesthetic effect is totally unique, less like a graphic novel and more like a painting brought to life. A young hopeful girl named Ye Xian travels alone to New York City to try to make some cash for her ailing father back home in China. She falls into the clutches of Mrs. Su, who runs a massage parlor in the heart of Chinatown. But Ye Xian refuses to do the requisite sex work for the clients, so she is made into a menial servant who must do all the laundry, cleaning, shopping and cooking – a Cinderella. However, she finds solace in a magical fish given to her by a strange hunchback and in her fleeting, tender encounters with Johnny, a local jazz musician. Taking place during the height of the Chinese New Year celebration, the film spins the conventions of the traditional fairy tale in ways that are consistently surprising.

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA