A brave and moving documentary based on photographer William Yang’s acclaimed stage show of the same name, ‘Sadness’ explores the roots of Yang’s Chinese-Australian identity, and his grief over the AIDS related deaths of his friends. As an intriguing subplot, the film also deals with Yang’s investigation of his uncle’s murder, which occurred in Queensland in the 1920s, and explores the implications this had on the Chinese community at the time, and on the legacy Yang inherited. The film’s evocative visual style combines Yang’s own slide-projected photographs with rear-projected imagery and dramatised reenactments of his family stories in order to maintain the essence of the stage performance.

SADNESS
Tony Ayres
Duration: 52’
Production: Michael McMahon and Megan McMurchy
Original Language: English
No Subtitles
Session followed by a lecture on writing for film

31-01-2012
Polytechnic Institute
4pm