Synopsis: When the 43-year-old artist Maleonn realizes that his father Ma Ke, former artistic director of the Shanghai Chinese Opera Theater, is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, he creates “Papa’s Time Machine,” a magical, autobiographical stage performance featuring life-size mechanical puppets. At the play’s heart are autobiographical scenes inspired by Maleonn’s memories with his father. He hopes the play will bring them together artistically and personally. During this journey where on the one side there’s commercial success and on the other is his original goal to honor his father, Maleonn becomes more aware of life’s complexities. There are no effortless masterpieces or simple solutions and there’s no traveling back in time to retrieve what has been lost, only to carry on forward with a new outlook on his art and life. Through the production of this play, the two men confront their mortality before time runs out and memories are lost forever. |
Editor Bob Lee Writers S. Leo Chiang & Bob Lee Co-Director Shuang Liang Cinematographers Yang Sun and Shuang Liang Original Music Paul Brill Puppeteers Pengcheng Shu, Xia Ning, Suman Liu,?Ting Guo, Hanjing Ni, Lingling Chen, Yang Chen and Shuai Wang Photographer Hong Wu Music Composer & Producer: Paul Brill at Casa de Rico y Luca, Brooklyn Producers: Yang Sun and S. Leo Chiang Production Companies: Walking Iris Media, Fish + Bear Pictures, Breezy Doc and Independent Television Service (ITVS). |