Treasure of the Lisu

The film takes us into the world of Ah-Cheng, a master musician and tradition bearer of the Lisu minority people in southwest China. Originating in eastern Tibet, the Lisu people now live among the mountainous Nu (Salween) River canyon, an area caught between the ancient and the modern world. As a skilled craftsman, Ah-Cheng is the only person in his village who can still make the Chiben, an emblematic fourstring lute, which alongside the knife and the crossbow, are the three most important objects to the Lisu People.The film, observational in style with no scripted narration, paints an intimate portrait of one family of an ethnic minority living in modern day China. It presents a world rarely seen by Westerners, a world that seems so faraway yet we will find the unexpected similarities striking.

Yan Chun Su

Yan Chun Su is a self-taught documentary filmmaker. She was born in China and received her education in both China and the US. After working as a computer software engineer for a number of companies in Boston, Yan took to the road and traveled to many far and distant places including Patagonia, the Amazon, the Arctic, Mongolia, and remote communities in China and southeast Asia.