Themed on the Mid-Autumn Festival, Charm of Mid-Autumn Festival presents three short animated videos for children, in the form of 2D, 3D and stop motion, respectively, which draw inspiration from the traditional culture, customs, myths and legends related to the Mid-Autumn Festival while incorporating elements of traditional Chinese operas. They convey the wishes for family reunion, harmony and health. All of the videos are original works created by young animators from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts.
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Moon cake is a traditional dessert for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and conveys the good wish for family reunion. Chang’e is the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology, and the Jade Rabbit is a mythological animal. It is said that they live in a heavenly palace on the moon—the Guanghan Palace. This animated work depicts the scene of Goddess Chang’e preparing moon cakes with the Jade Rabbits in the heavenly palace. The images of the characters and the expressive style of the work break people’s mindset on Chang’e and the moon palace in Chinese mythology. The work adopts an exaggerated style to depict the goddess and the Jade Rabbits. With funny performances of the characters, it demonstrates the process of making traditional Chinese moon cakes, expressing sincere good wishes for people in China and beyond.
A plate of mouthwatering moon cake is placed on the desk during the Mid-Autumn Festival. A Peking Opera martial female doll and an insect toy robot, who are both as hungry as a wolf, scramble for the plate of moon cake. In the process, by accident, they break the moon cake into pieces. Finally, they get back together and share the moon cake under the full moon. The battle between the two characters draws inspiration from the martial arts movements of some traditional opera classics, and showcases some stunt moves with high-level difficulty in traditional opera performances.
Chang’e Flying to the Moon is a Chinese fairytale about Chang’e accidently taking a pill of immortality and flying to the moon to become a goddess. Inspired by this fairytale, the animated work tells another version of the story in the daydream of a little girl: When doing housework, Chang’e finds a pill of immortality. Her rabbit accidently takes a bite of the pill. As a result, it floats in the air. To rescue the rabbit, Chang’e eats the rest of the pill. The two then fly to the moon together. The images and movements of the characters in the video are adorable and cute. It uses modern technology and elements from traditional Chinese operas to depict the ancient fairytale, and re-interpret it from a positive and optimistic perspective.
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