The Magic Paintbrush

A charming puppet animation based on a Chinese folk-tale. Ma Liang, the hero, is a poor peasant boy who loves to paint. One day a fairy gives him a magic paintbrush and he discovers that anything he paints will come to life. Ma Liang happily creates many things that the peasants desperately need until, one fateful day, a wicked landlord discovers his secret.

How to watch

Access to this work is restricted for legal or cultural reasons.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

production company

Shanghai Film Studios

Duration

00:20:00:00

Production places

China

Production dates

1983

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

016779

Language

English

Subject categories

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Puppet films

Animation

Animation → Animated films - China

Childrens Films

Childrens Films → Puppet films

Music & Performing Arts → Puppet films

Short films

Short films → Short films - China

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

Betamax; Access Print (Section 1)

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan

MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/78234--the-magic-paintbrush/ |title=The Magic Paintbrush |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=5 October 2022 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

China, 1983

Please note