Divergence

SPECTRUM
International Premiere   2013

Director/Animator: Shi Yi, Chen Hailu
HD video/HDCAM, color, 6 min.

A pair of human forms emerge as if from the ether, to do spirited battle in this collaborative work of animation by Shi Ye and Chen Hailu. With the sweep and texture of Chinese calligraphy, the animated figures swoop and swirl, expressing the grace and power of Beijing Opera. Their vivid postures and gestures just as readily give way to abstraction in a beautiful confluence of line and momentum. – Shannon Kelley

Shi Yi lives and works in Shanghai and Hong Kong. A graduate of the Shanghai Fine Arts University, he worked as an assistant director on the animated feature The Worrier (2008), and directed the feature animation Wang Er Xiao in 2012. Now a feature animation director at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, Shi Yi is in charge of the studio’s Chinese Brush Painting Animation program. He also teaches animation at the Xiejin Film and Television Art Institute and Animation School, and China Communication University (Beijing) as a special supervisor.

Chen Hailu works and lives in Shanghai and Hong Kong. After finishing a joint postgraduate program of the Chinese Central Academy of Fine Arts and CalArts, she made experimental shorts which were presented at many animation festivals and video art exhibitions. She is currently an Associate Professor teaching both traditional and experimental animation at the Design School, East China Normal University. She also teaches animation at the Xiejin Film and Television Art Institute and Animation School, China Communication University (Beijing) as a special supervisor.

Followed by:
Nezha (少女哪吒)