Mistress Dispeller
China, United States, 2024: 94 minutes: Alberta Premieredescription
In China, a new industry has emerged devoted to helping couples stay married in the face of infidelity.
Wang Zhenxi is part of this growing profession, a “mistress dispeller” who is hired to maintain the bonds of marriage — and break up affairs — by any means necessary. Offering strikingly intimate access to private dramas usually hidden behind closed doors, MISTRESS DISPELLER follows a real, unfolding case of infidelity as Teacher Wang attempts to bring a couple back from the edge of crisis. Their story shifts our sympathies between husband, wife and mistress to explore the ways emotion, pragmatism and cultural norms collide to shape romantic relationships in contemporary China.
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Venice Film Festival 2024
Toronto International Film Festival 2024
Camden International Film Festival 2024
Zurich Film Festival 2024
Chicago International Film Festival 2024
SFFILM Doc Stories 2024
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2024
New Orleans Film Festival 2024
DOC NYC 2024
DIRECTOR'S BIO
Elizabeth Lo is a filmmaker whose documentary films have been showcased at festivals like Sundance, IDFA, SXSW, and Tribeca. Elizabeth has been featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40,” and Cannes Lions’ “New Directors Showcase.” She is a recipient of artist fellowships from Locarno, New York Film Festival, Yaddo and MacDowell, and was selected for the Concordia Studio Fellowship and Gotham/HBO Documentary Development Initiative. Her debut feature, STRAY, won Best International Feature at Hot Docs, received nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards, and was released theatrically. Her short films have been acquired by colleges and libraries worldwide. Elizabeth holds a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA from Stanford University. She was born and raised in Hong Kong.
press for Mistress Dispeller
"Modest, melancholic and strangely romantic, the STRAY director's new documentary portrays China’s booming 'love industry' through intimate character studies within a love triangle."- Variety
"MISTRESS DISPELLER settles in at its own pace, but it’s ever engaging, and truly feels to be a unique, powerful, and deeply personal portrait that gets to the heart of something so rarely captured in such an eloquent way."- POV Magazine
details
Documentary / Women Director
Chinese | English Subtitles94 minutes
credits
Director
Elizabeth Lo
Executive Producers
Nick Shumaker
Jessica Grimshaw
Jenny Raskin
Kelsey Koenig
Geralyn White Dreyfous
David Levine
Dawn Olmstead
Rahdi Taylor
Davis Guggenheim
Steve Cohen
Paula Froehle
Producers
Emma D. Miller
Elizabeth Lo
Maggie Li
Screenwriters
Elizabeth Lo
Charlotte Munch Bengtsen
Cinematographer
Elizabeth Lo
Cast
Wang Zhenxi
Music
Brian McOmber
Official website:
https://www.mistressdispellerfilm.com/