The Ancestral Temple 《神堂》简介

在文化开发的过程中，被人类学家称为“活化石”的舍米湖摆手舞，出现了“风化”。看到改编的摆手舞在舍米湖村流行，老传承人彭昌松认为这无异于买椟还珠。纪录片《神堂》以舍米湖村摆手舞传承、发展的现状为叙事线索，通过新、老传承人的境遇与冲突，渐次深入地反映出当下农村基本状况和人们的心理状态，留下了具有时代特征意味的真实影像。
对于多数村民来说，失去精神寄所功能的舍米湖神堂，虽近在咫尺，却远若天涯。

- Post-screening dialogue with film director Lu Min -

In the process of cultural development, the Baishou Dance, once regarded as a “living fossil” by anthropologists, suffers from “weathering”. Seeing the adapted Baishou Dance being popularized in Shemihu village, Peng Changsong, the senior-generation practitioner of the Baishou Dance, dismisses it as nothing but “buying a casket while discarding the pearl inside”. The documentary of The Ancestral Temple, strung together by stories concerning the preservation and development of the Baishou Dance as reflected in the life situation and conflicts between the old and young generations of Baishou dance practitioners, vividly depicts a genuine and timely portrait of the current conditions of rural society and the changing mentality of villagers.
For most of the villagers, the Shemihu Ancestral Temple which no longer serves as a refuge for their spiritual longings, feels so close at hand yet so far away. 

Dr. Min Lu is currently an associate professor in South-Central University for Nationalities in China. In 1999-2012, she worked in Hubei Television Network as a reporter, producer, and a director of documentary, with eight national/international documentary prizes awarded. She is interested in visual anthropology and cross-cultural communication. She is now a visiting scholar in UCLA Center for Chinese Studies.

Sponsor(s): Center for Chinese Studies