Director of Photography: Yu Sun.
Fairy Wang may be a working-class girl from rural China, but she thinks she’s the next Coco Chanel. After posting her eccentric designs on Weibo, China’s largest social media site, Fairy becomes an overnight internet celebrity. But fame comes at a price for the misunderstood fashion misfit.
Filmmaker Rongfei Guo teams up with Vice cinematographer Yu Sun and befriends Fairy and walks in the unlikely designer’s very first fashion show. Their film, Fairy Tales, explores China’s unique internet and media culture as well as the social expectations facing its workingclass women through the lens of an overnight internet celebrity in China.
Often hilarious, but ultimately a strong social statement, Fairy Tales is uniquely crafted. All of the subject material could have easily become a cacophony of disconnected sights and sounds, but Fairy Tales unfolds with beauty and purpose… mixing the fluidity of a dream with the acuity of an essay.
Reviewed by Vanessa Abbott as part of the Short Film Program at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017.