Ai Weiwei re imagines Puccini - Hot Docs Review

AI WEIWEI'S TURANDOT

Director Maxim Derevianko

Canadian Premiere at Hot Docs 2025, 

spotlighted in Big Ideas

Screening at TIFF Lightbox Sat May 3rd at 7:30pm

Screen Time: 77 Minutes

Trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjpTTA4lfEo   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aiweiweisturandotfilm

“Everything is Art. Everything is Politics.” ~Ai Weiwei

I'm the first to admit that I am not an opera fan and know nothing about it.  I also do not know much about AI Weiwei other than the fact that he is an iconic political artist.

When I began watching this film, I wasn't sure I would be interested in it, but after the initial Opera background info, I started to learn a whole lot of other things.  I knew about the Puccini Operas, but I do not understand them, so I never investigated further.  From this film, I learned that the Puccini Turandot Opera was a Chinese Opera even though Puccini was Italian, and the Opera was never finished.

AI Weiwei's re-imagined version was to debut at the Rome Opera House.

He enlisted his old friend and esteemed choreographer Chiang Ching, 

This production was a bit of a full circle moment for AI Weiwei, when he was a young man, he was an extra in the Turandot Opera in 1987 when his friend Chiang Ching was the choreographer.  He had a small part but learned a great deal from his experience. Bringing it back with his vision was going to be a massive undertaking.

His vision was to create a new kind of stage and innovate the costuming.  Change the choreography and even the music, had the musical director's vision.  They had 2 Music directors because of the timing of the production.

The Rome Opera invited him to direct his version in 2018. This was a massive undertaking, and unfortunately, in 2020, when the whole world shut down, so did this production.  It picked up 2 years later, but they lost the original music director and replaced by Ukranian maestro Oksana Lyniv. 

Added to the still lingering COVID-19 was the beginning of the Ukranian war.

There are many political references and influences from world events in this version of the Opera that make it much more modern and charged.

AI Weiwei is no stranger to challenges, and they forged on to their debut at the Opera House.

This documentary is visually appealing, and the background story is fascinating.  If you love Opera, then you will love it that much more.

I still don't fully understand it all, but I learned a lot more than I knew before watching it.

Another interesting fact is that Julian Lennon is one of the producers.