Maiden Work 1997

Directed by Wang Guangli

Another curve ball from the Beijing 'underground', Guangli Wang's debut feature first tells a story and then wittily deconstructs it. Painter Jinian, undergoing eye surgery for wounds received in a bar fight, remembers or imagines his relationships with student journalist Xue and her lesbian lover Yu. On recovering, he sets about trying to write and direct a film about the three of them. His meetings with potential producers, actors and technicians eventually get the project moving, but not quite as he foresaw it.