Shun Li and the Poet

2011 Italian film

September 5, 2011 (2011-09-05) (Venice Film Festival)
September 23, 2011 (2011-09-23) (Italy)

Running time

100 minutesCountryItalyLanguagesItalian and Mandarin

Shun Li and the Poet (Italian: Io sono Li) is a 2011 Italian drama film directed by Andrea Segre.^[1] It won the European Parliament Lux Prize in 2012. Zhao Tao won the 2012 David di Donatello for Best Actress for her performance as Shun Li. It also took out the 2014 Whitehead Award at the 13th annual international film festival.^[2]

Plot

Shun Li (Zhao Tao) has been working in a textile workshop in the outskirts of Rome for eight years to pay off her debt to the human traffickers in order to bring her son to Italy. She is suddenly transferred to Chioggia, a small island town situated in the Venetian lagoon, to work as a bartender. Bepi (Rade Šerbedžija), a fisherman of Slavic origin, nicknamed "the Poet", has been visiting the bar for years. Their meeting is a poetic escape from loneliness, a laconic dialogue between different cultures. It is a journey into the heart of a deep lagoon, known to be a mother and birthplace of identity. But the friendship between Shun Li and Bepi disturbs both communities, Chinese and Chioggia, which hinders this new journey, which perhaps is simply still too scary. They part ways but, like the ocean, are drawn back together again.

Cast

Zhao Tao: Shun Li
Rade Šerbedžija: Bepi
Marco Paolini: Coppe
Roberto Citran: Avvocato
Giuseppe Battiston: Devis

References

^ Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 154. ISBN 978-1908215017.
^ "Past Awards | Whitehead International Film Festival". whiteheadfilmfestival.org. Archived from the original on 2013-09-14.