Call of the willows

With Zheng starring as an artist who lives by making paper fans, the film recounts his bittersweet romantic triangle with Chuitiao (played by Wang Yang) and Yinxin (acted by Kan Xin), two intimate friends and actresses from a local troupe in Shengzhou, a county-level city in Zhejiang, which is considered the cradle of Yueju Opera.

With most of its classical works being love stories to be performed in an elegant way, Yueju Opera was once popular, exemplified by the success of the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe in the 1980s, says director Dai.

But its popularity declined in the early 1990s, as a result of the combined impact from domestic audience's shifting interest to modern culture in the forms of pop music and television programs, and the reform of State-owned enterprises, which caused layoffs in opera troupes, she adds.

Set against a backdrop of the history of Yueju Opera, the movie, shrouded in melancholy, follows the two lead female characters' different choices for their life paths.

Despite suffering the loss of sight after injuring her eyes, Chuitiao is depicted as a persistent artist who never quits her pursuit of performing on the stage even amid a harsh environment.