Village projectionists show more than 20,000 movies over 38 years

Out of a keen interest in movies and enduring fascination with the excitement of a group of people watching a movie together, Cao Yi and his wife Ye Xirong, a couple of rural projectionists in central China's Henan Province, have traveled through different villages every day, lighting up the night sky and bringing the magic of movies to villagers for 38 years .

In Yanhe township in Henan Province, where the couple has been operating a "mobile open-air cinema" for nearly four decades, people can still see an old movie projector used for a warm-up at dusk before the official screening.

As a digital projector kicks in at 6:30 p.m., the outdoor movie screening officially begins. Cao stays seated beside the projector throughout the movie - just as his mentor taught him decades ago.

Cao has developed a fervent interest in movies since childhood. Back in the day when local households used kerosene lamps for lighting, watching movies was a rare and novel experience for Cao and his fellow villagers. Cao idolized movie projectionists and would eagerly watch the same movies over and over whenever they were played in local villages.

In 1979, Cao became a movie projectionist as he had always dreamed of becoming. Carrying a projector and a screen on a shoulder pole, Cao toured between villages with his mentor, relishing bringing joy to rural audiences.

Movie screenings were always eagerly anticipated at that time. After a long day working in the fields, villagers would flock to open-air movies with wooden stools, filling the site with excitement as the white screen lit up the night.

In 1983, Cao became head projectionist of Yanhe township's movie projection team. He was trained in projection technology, electrotechnology and other skills, and became a professional movie projectionist.

"Whenever a new movie was shown, the venue would be a sea of people. There were more than 10,000 people watching the same movie together at most. I had to remind people to be careful around the projector," Cao recalled.

At that time, movies were often screened at threshing floors, for other sites were not large enough to accommodate a big audience, Cao explained. He can still remember how the comforting smell of rice wafted through the air as people sat cross-legged on the ground to watch movies.

Cao met his wife Ye as he showed the movie "Xiao Hua,” which is the first movie Ye had watched in her life, and the start to their romance. Under Cao's influence, Ye became one of the few female projectionists of the locality.

In the couple's home, seven projectors Cao has used over 38 years are displayed neatly - each a treasure to Cao. The 16mm projector cost the couple 3,200 yuan ($441). It was the most expensive thing they bought after their wedding. And they had to get a loan from a rural credit cooperative to buy it.

To repay the loan, Cao became a migrant worker, and Ye continued operating their "mobile open-air cinema" while taking care of their two children.

"I had shown movies at three villages in one night," Ye recalled, saying that life at that time was busy and exhausting, but she was always full of energy as she screened films.

As time went by, open-air movie screening gradually faded from people's lives. Following the tide of the times, the couple opened their first cinema in Yanhe township. But it soon went out of business as more and more people went to big cities for higher salaries.

In 1997, Guangshan county initiated a public-benefit movie screening project, which provided a chance for the couple to return to their passion.

They bought a digital projector and reopened their "mobile open-air cinema.” Since many people have left their hometowns to work in big cities, the audience today consists mostly of the elderly and children, and seeing people watch open-air movies is less spectacular as it was decades ago. But that doesn't affect the couple's enthusiasm for their job.

Having traveled tens of thousands of kilometers to show over 20,000 movies in 50 villages, the couple is deeply attached to their "mobile open-air cinema" and derives great pleasure from the heart-touching scene of a large crowd watching the same movie under the moonlight.

They believe that as long as there are new movies, there will be an audience for their "mobile open-air cinema.”