The Silk and the Flame

The survival of a rural Chinese family depends on Yao, a middle-aged man whose father’s dying wish is continuation of the family line. The film explores the relationship between a child and his parents, at a time when the largest human migration on earth takes place: the Chinese New Year. Yao travels from Beijing, the northern capital, to a village of three hundred people in the heart of the country, where his entire family lives and waits for his monthly salary and eventual homecoming. Like the majority of gay Chinese men and women, Yao lives a closeted life. Having solved every problem the family has faced in recent years – illness, poverty, educating his siblings’ children and putting a roof over their heads – Yao struggles to solve the one dilemma in life that is closest to his heart: the kind of man he would like to be. Yao travels from Beijing to a village of 300 people where his mother, who became deaf and mute after a medical accident, struggles to bring father and son closer together during the Chinese New Year.   

 Jordan Schiele was born in Brooklyn, New York, and began working on film sets in Shanghai. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in legal studies and Mandarin Chinese from Oxford University, he graduated from New York University’s Tisch Asia MFA Film Production program in Singapore with a dual concentration in cinematography and directing. In 2013, Jordan shot and directed a promotional film for Louis Vuitton featuring Sofia Coppola, Emma Watson. He continued on working in fashion advertising. Jordan Schiele has made several short films awarded in prestigious competitions. “The Silk and the Flame” is his first feature documentary film.

 Selected Filmography

 Dog Days, 2018

Turtle, 2016 

 Prank, 2014

 A New Kind of Love, 2013

5 cm, 2013

Ten Years From Now, 2012 

Canvas, 2011


Film sessions

09.29 Saturday
  • Skalvija (Vilnius) 18:00 Presentation

09.30 Sunday
  • Skalvija (Vilnius) 16:00 Presentation


Information

Director: Jordan Schiele
Screenplay: Jordan Schiele
Cinematography: Jordan Schiele
Editing: Jordan Schiele
Music: Wei-San Hsu
Producer: Jordan Schiele
Production: Untitled Films
USA, 2018, 87 min.