The remastered version of the classic silent film, The Goddess, originally made in 1933 in Shanghai is to be shown at the 2014 Shanghai International Film Festival on June 15th.
Originally made at a time of political crisis within a divided China, booming attendances, and personal turmoil in the life of its star, actress Ruan Lingyu, The Goddess was dismissed as decadent by Chinese scholars during the Cultural Revolution. In 1935, after a trial for adultery and a humiliating media frenzy, the tragic heroine committed suicide. Her funeral drew 300,000 moruners across the city. These circumstances only served to fuel the film’s mystique over the years, and The Goddess has since been bestowed a place of great importance in China’s film history.
The Goddess was the first film by leftist writer-director Wu Yonggang, who continued to make films in China until 1981, despite being silenced from 1957 to 1962 and during the Cultural Revolution.