Beijing Holiday(short)

13 min, miniDV / edition 5+1
vienna / tokyo / taipei / beijing 2007
actors: soong mei ling / edgar honetschläger
camera: sylvie guérard / thomas woschitz
editor: thomas woschitz
sculptor: ouyang liqi

assistant director: houxiu nagaoka

director: edgar honetschläger

producer: com institute tokyo / edoko institute Vienna
premiere at "discovering the other" curated by gertjan zuilhof for the National Palace Museeum Taipei, with YAEL BARTANA, APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL DEBORAH STRATMAN ELLA RAIDEL HONGJOHN LIN MERILYN FAIRSKYE TSAI MING-LIANG

BEIJING HOLIDAY is a fairy tale. An ironic adaption of William Wyler's "Roman Holiday" featuring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Beijing Holiday is a romance between the former first Lady of China, Soong May-Ling and the filmmaker Edgar Honetschl?ger. He, the Westerner, guides the sophisticated Lady Chang Kai-Shek through a thriving Beijing, showing her, what the very communists that won out against her, are doing at present. Nonetheless BEIJING HOLIDAY isn't a cute puppet show. The film, by means of symbolism and metaphors, utters harsh criticism on how "naive" the West is dealing with mainland China. For the filmmaker is not in favor of Soong Mei-Ling (even though he has to admit that he fell for her as a man), the Kumintang or the ruling party of Taiwan. Beijing Holiday deals with the "fetish politics". The film clearly states: Art needs not be political, but it is a sign of a "sane" society, if the arts can be.