ULTIMATE DOCS COMPETITION
CHINA A NEW OLD EMPIRE FROM IN AND OUT

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

SECOND SPRING

China, 2006, 60 min., Chinese

Director: Christine Choy
Producer: Julia Zhu
Script: Christine Choy
Cinematography: Ku-ling Siegel
Editing: Mathieu Borysevicz
Music:Jie Wang/ Gary Schreiner
Sound: Jing Li
Production Company: Shanghai Media Group & Film News Now Foundation
Print Source:
Julia Zhu
1439 N. Clybourn Ave
Unit C
Chicago, IL 60610
Tel.: 312 933 0366
Fax: 312 644 6840
e-mail: Jzu168@aol.com


Second Spring

In China today, government policy dictates that workers retire when they reach their fifties. While this opens space in the work force for younger people, it also creates a huge number of relatively young, extremely active retirees. Second Spring offers a funny and fascinating look at the lives of a select group in Shanghai who use their time to learn, be happy and achieve. Zhu Ting Jia, a 79-year-old former accountant, is a ballroom dancing fanatic. Eighty-year-old retired Communist Party members Tong Chung Hui and his wife Xu Li Juan practice Qi Gong in the park, attend painting classes at the senior center, and travel with their friends. Chen Yin Er, an attractive fifty-something concocts her own skin lotions at home, while across town, another recent retiree makes an exploratory trip to a plastic surgeon. Artist Xu Yun Zhang lives in a part of Shanghai slated for demolition to make way for the 2010 World Expo. His wife and daughter have already moved to the U.S., but he remains focused on his painting. Director Christine Choy captures the joy her subjects feel in using their time for self-fulfillment.

Christine Choy Born in Shanghai, China in 1954. She came to the U.S. in 1967. She has produced and directed over fifty works in various forms. Received M.S. degree in architecture from Columbia University and Directing Certificate from the American Film Institute. Served as a professor and the Chair of the Graduate Film and Television Department at New York University, and has taught at Yale, Cornell and SUNY Buffalo. Has received over sixty international awards, including an Oscar nomination, and fellowships from numerous organizations, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Asian Cultural Council.

Filmography (selected as a director):

Second Spring (2006);
De-construction of a Korean House Wife (2004);
Ha Ha Shanghai (2001);
The Shot Heard Round the World (1997);
Wrongful Death: Hattori vs. Peairs (1997);
In the Name of the Emperor (1995);
Best Hotel on Skid Row (1990);
Who Killed Vincent Chin (1978), Academy nomination for the Best Documentary;
Permanent Wave (1986);
Mississippi Triangle (1983).

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