Skip to main content
Queens of the Qing Dynasty film image, director Ashley McKenzie

Queens of the Qing Dynasty

This event has passed

Recovering from a suicide attempt in a Cape Breton hospital, Star (Sarah Walker), a neurodiverse teen, is drawn into the orbit of An (Ziyin Zheng), a genderqueer volunteer. Despite their disparate backgrounds (An has recently arrived from Shanghai), the pair operate on identical idiosyncratic frequencies, fortifying their bond through a flurry of text messages and unguarded declarations. After disclosing her aspiration of becoming a trophy wife to An, Star incants, “You’re sinning… making me evil.”

In reality, there’s nothing sinister afoot in Ashley McKenzie’s (Werewolf, 2016) extraordinary sophomore feature. Rather, it’s a disarmingly open-hearted, formally exhilarating ode to a fairy tale friendship. A heady mix of unvarnished-yet-eloquent dialogue, transportive electronic compositions by Yu Su and Cecile Believe, and visual flourishes that meld social media, animation, and VR, the film sees McKenzie adhering to her social realist principles while exploring a more expansive, sensorially rich brand of cinema. Unfolding in society’s margins, Queens of the Qing Dynasty burns as incandescently as its two stars.

 

Q&A Oct 5 & Oct 7

Director
Cast

Sarah Walker, Ziyin Zheng, Wendy Wishart, Jana Reddick, Yao Xue, Cherlena Brake

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

In English, Mandarin, and Russian with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Self Harm

18+
122 min
Drama Experimental & Avant Garde LGBTQIA2S+ Romance Women Directors

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Magnolia

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
188 min

This deeply personal 1999 California opus is ripe for rediscovery. Mapping the emotional traumas of half-a-dozen major characters as they crisscross the San Fernando Valley in search of either recognition or reconciliation, it's PTA's riskiest gamble.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Ravenous

Dir. Antonia Bird
100 min

This black comic horror western has a troubled production (no less than three directors) but it's a grisly, atmospheric treat (if cannibalism is your thing). Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle lead the way.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Office Space

Dir. Mike Judge
90 min

This razor sharp comedy from Mike Judge (King of the Hill) captures the indignities of life as a wage slave with rare acumen and caustic wit. Evidently the impending millennial bug weighed heavily on people's minds back in 1999.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

American Doctor

Dir. Poh Si Teng
93 min

One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Fight Club

Dir. David Fincher
139 min

1999 was a very good year for movies, but nothing captured millennial angst quite so vividly as David Fincher's bruising black comedy about what it means to be a man today. This modern classic does everything short of rattling your seat to get a reaction.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Wind Will Carry Us

Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
118 min

Kiarostami's dry comic masterpiece follows a Tehrani film team's thwarted attempts to document a traditional Kurdish funeral... Trouble being, there's no one to bury, and, worse, virtually no cell service...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Ashley McKenzie, Britt Kerr, Nelson MacDonald

Screenwriter

Ashley McKenzie

Cinematography

Scott Moore

Editor

Ashley McKenzie, Scott Moore

Production Design

Michael Pierson

Original Music

Yu Su, Cecile Believe

Director

Ashley McKenzie headshot, Queens of the Qing Dynasty director

Ashley McKenzie

Ashley McKenzie (she/they) is a filmmaker based in Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island). Her debut feature Werewolf (2016) won the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association in 2017. Film Comment called Werewolf “an austere, marvelously focused debut feature,” while The New Yorker named it to their Best Movies of 2018 list. Ashley’s films have screened at the Berlinale, Toronto International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and Sydney Film Festival, and have been curated by the Criterion Channel, MUBI, and Anthology Film Archives.

Filmography: Werewolf (2016)