The Passion Of The Mao


THE PASSION OF THE MAO is an irreverent documentary that reexamines the Cultural Revolution and restores the once bright reputation of Mao Zedong. The Passion of the Mao manages at one and the same time to put a new twist on Mao’s life, to mock the recent religious film by Mel Gibson, and to demonstrate how Mao’s influence lingers. WHO KNEW THAT COMMUNISM COULD BE SO FUNNY? WHO’S MAKING THIS FILM? Director-writer-producer Lee Feigon writes frequently about East Asian politics, economics, history, and culture for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, The Nation, the Chicago Tribune, the Atlantic, and the Boston Globe. He has appeared on national television, including MacNeil Lehrer, CNN, Hardball CNBC, and the NBC Nightly News. Post Production on the film was done at Hammer & Pixel Studios in association with Gold'n'Group. Neal Gold of Gold'n'Group and Steve Cejtin from Hammer & Pixel brought their award winning skills as well as their senses of humor to this production. The result is visually eclectic, funny, and informative. Gold has had films in countless film festivals, Sundance among them. Cejtin has won silver and bronze medals at the New York Film Festival for his work in commercials and televsion programs. Animation by Next Wave Multimedia, P.R. Rajendran and Cows Can Fly, Jigeesha Joshi. and Hammer & Pixel Additional editing was done at Live Wire Productions. The narrator for the film is Aaron Freeman. Aaron Freeman is the only Jewish/African-American comedian-commentator who appears regularly on NPR. He is known as "the funniest black Jew on National Public Radio". WHO WILL WANT TO SEE THIS FILM? The growing number of people interested in China and Chinese movies, Asian Americans, biography nuts, people who hate Mel Gibson, anti-war people, leftists, feminists, and especially those who want to see a great, entertaining film. DON’T WORRY, IT WILL BE CONTROVERSIAL Feigon interviewed people who lived through the Cultural Revolution—successful women and men who are now professors at major universities in the West—who say that Mao and especially the Cultural Revolution were the best things in their lives. They credit the Cultural Revolution for making them feminists and allowing them to have an education. Under Mao the economy grew fast, laying the foundation for China’s recent success. Even the Dalai Lama speaks fondly of Mao. And what about the anti-Maoist beliefs that have sullied the reputation of the man once referred to as “the sun in the sky?” They are part of a vast radical conspiracy, the result of propaganda churned out by the same people who turned the tanks on the Tiananmen demonstrators.