Queens of the Qing Dynasty
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A story of magnetic attraction and unlikely kinship, featuring extraordinary performances, alluringly crafted by one of the most exciting voices in contemporary art cinema.
A meet cute takes place in a hospital. Star (Walker), a neurodivergent teen, encounters An (Zheng), a queer student from Shanghai assigned to watch her after a suicide attempt. A nightly exchange of text messages and diva ballads follows and their idiosyncratic worldviews begin to sync. McKenzie conjures a unique shared universe for these characters, complete with strobing colours, animation, and a glitch synth soundtrack featuring Autechre and Yu Su. The result is a transfixing portrait of live-wire intimacy between self-proclaimed “evil twins”. In Star’s words: “We have chemistry, chemical connections. We’re mixin’ chemicals. I can feel it.” Special Guest
Ashley McKenzie
Director
Ashley McKenzie (she/they) wrote and directed several short flms, including When You Sleep (2012), Stray (2013), and 4 Quarters (2015). Her debut feature Werewolf screened at TIFF (2016), the Berlinale (2017), and won the most generously endowed film prize in Canada – the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association.
- Program Strand
- FLUX
- Year
- 2022
- Classification
- Unclassified 18+
- Country
- Canada
- Language
- In English and Mandarin with English subtitles
- Director
- Ashley McKenzie
- Producer
- Ashley McKenzie, Britt Kerr, Nelson MacDonald
- Cast
- Sarah Walker, Ziyin Zheng, Wendy Wishart
- Screenwriter
- Ashley McKenzie
- Cinematographer
- Scott Moore
- Editor
- Ashley McKenzie, Scott Moore
- Premiere
- Australian Premiere
- Genre
- Women Directors, Experimental, Comedies, LGBTQIA+ Films
- Company Credits
- Production Company: Hi-Vis Film
