Zhang + Knight "Sweep Away Hungry Ghosts"

HIGHLIGHT FILM SERIES

Sweep Away Hungry Ghosts is a transcendent and eerie tale about a young Asian man’s struggle to come to terms with his deceased fathers cross-dressing. Exploring the theme of Filial piety (a virtue of respect for one’s parents, elders, and ancestors) which is a central value in Chinese culture. This is a performance forcing viewers to unsettle their conventional perception of the spaces between sex, sexuality and gender. Married with beautiful moments of tenderness, visceral visuals and saturated red hues.

We highly recommend you take the time to check this beauty out! And make sure you read our Q&A with the creators @hannahplumz & @linden_unofficial aka Zhang and Knight, below.

WHAT WERE YOUR INTENTIONS WHEN CREATING THIS FILM?
We wanted to create a film which existed in an extremely abstract ’tableaux-esque’ space, drawing from paintings and theatre to create something lurid colourful and surreal. Hungry Ghosts definitely sits in a very interpretive space and we wanted to use this style to explore themes of gender and sexuality in a visceral and abstract way.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR AESTHETIC STYLE?
Our aesthetic style is driven very strongly by colour. We often spend weeks working on the colour palette for a film, It really evokes the sense of being displaced into another world where physics and motion work in a different way.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE US TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR CRAFT?
Only that we want to take the best bits of what we learnt on this project and apply it to something properly narrative next time round…with less semi nude ghosts!