Why was Ashima, pioneering Chinese musical film, shelved for years before its release?

In with the new: this seemed the key takeaway from the Chinese films that appeared at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain this year.

Throughout the nine-day event, which ran from September 19 to 27, debate whirled around documentary-maker Qin Xiaoyu’s first fictional feature, Her Heart Beats in Its Cage. Its non-professional leading actress, Zhao Xiaohong, won a prize for her turn as a woman trying to reconcile with her son after serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Meanwhile, Zhang Zhongchen’s Nighttime Sounds – about a child’s gradual awakening of hidden secrets in her village – received rave reviews in the New Directors section.

Still, the Spanish festival also looked back at classic Chinese cinema by hosting the world premiere of a restored version of Ashima, the first full-colour, widescreen musical movie produced on the mainland after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Completed in 1964 and directed by actor-turned-director Liu Qiong, Ashima revolves around a young couple in a Yunnan village played by Yang Likun and Baosier, whose blooming romance is cut short by the interference of the scion of a powerful clan.