《Ping An's Daughter》Beijing Roadshow: Ma Qiniang's story goes beyond Fujian

The film - Ping An's Daughter - held a roadshow in Beijing on September 21. Director Lin Jun and actors such as Su Mengdi, Liu Bo, Zhang Yixin, Chen Kexin, Liao Juan, Lu Lulu, Zhu Ankai, Yichen and other actors came to the scene to communicate with the audience about the creative process of the film.Starting from the story of Ma Qiniang circulated in eastern Fujian, the film introduces the national intangible cultural heritage "Ma Xian Belief and Customs" to the screen. In a legend about war, plague and long-distance search for relatives, it seeks the power of ordinary people to protect others.

The story takes place in the war years.After 11-year-old Ma Qiniang lost her father and went to her fiancé Lu's family, the life that awaited her was not stable.Lu Mulinma made things difficult for her in every possible way, but she still retained her kindness and took the initiative to help the villagers.When the plague struck, Ma Qiniang tried medicine on her own to try to find a way out for her fellow villagers. After learning about Lu Tian, ​​she took Lin Ma, who was seriously ill, on a journey to find him.Every choice made by the characters becomes more difficult, and the word "safety" changes from a wish to an action that requires a price.

Ma Qiniang eventually sacrificed her life to save others. Her filial piety and righteousness moved the government and the public, and she was named "Mrs. Ma's Protector of the Country".This folk narrative has been passed down in eastern Fujian for many years. It is legendary and preserves the local people's understanding of goodwill, filial piety and mutual assistance.The movie adds visible living environment and emotional relationships to the character, allowing her to return from a legendary symbol to a specific situation: she is still young, but she has to make constant decisions amidst the frustration of family ties, the spread of disease, and long-distance travel.

How to turn faith and custom into a story is the key to film creation.Rituals, titles, and local landscapes can provide distinctive cultural identifiers, but what the audience really follows is the fate of the characters.《Ping An's Daughter》uses the relationship between Ma Qiniang, Lin Ma, Lu Tian and the villagers to string together the narrative, bringing the intangible cultural heritage into conflict and choice.The landscapes of Eastern Fujian are also involved in emotional expression. Hometown is not only the place where the story takes place, but also a common living space that Ma Qiniang constantly looks back on and protects.

During the roadshow exchanges, many guests from the film and intangible cultural heritage fields discussed the film from aspects such as literary expression, youth viewing, directorial art and cultural protection.Ma Xian beliefs and customs originally relied on local memories, folk rituals and intergenerational narration to continue, but movies gave it the opportunity to spread across regions.After the characters' experiences are transformed into images, viewers who don't understand the culture of Eastern Fujian can also enter the plot first, and then follow the story to understand the values ​​behind the beliefs and customs.

There were people from the Disabled Persons’ Federation attending the movie that day.Ma Qiniang's experience of still being willing to help others in the face of difficulties has made some viewers feel the power of being understood and cared for.The film proposes "use love as a shield to keep you safe". This sentence corresponds to the specific actions of testing drugs, finding relatives and rescuing people on the screen, and forms a new exchange at the real screening site.The cultural theme thus moves away from mere display and focuses on how people see each other.

The Beijing roadshow also featured many talented people from Zherong Township.The landscapes of Eastern Fujian and familiar stories on the screen made this screening a reunion after being away from home.For them, supporting films also means helping local culture go further.Rural sages, creators and audiences met at the same event, giving a work that grew out of county culture a clearer communication path: tell the local characters first, and then bring the story to larger cities by people familiar with the land.

Films with local themes often face challenges in two directions.Filming that relies too much on background knowledge will make it difficult for foreign audiences to enter; leaving only a general plot will weaken the unique texture of regional culture.《Ping An's Daughter》Choose to start with Ma Qiniang's growth and sacrifice, allowing the audience to first understand why she reaches out to help others time and time again, and then understand the formation of Ma Qiniang's beliefs and customs.Filial piety, goodwill and protection are the entrances to cross-regional emotions, and the history and landscape of Eastern Fujian have left these emotions recognizable.

From East Fujian to Beijing, this road show completed an important step in the dissemination of the film.Whether Ma Qiniang's story can be remembered by more audiences still depends on whether the character creation is solid enough and whether local culture and film narrative can truly be integrated.At least in this exchange, hometown memory, intangible cultural heritage protection and real-life care have gathered in front of the same screen, and “safe” has also been extended from the title of the film to a wish from the creator to the audience.