The Year of the Rabbit has started strongly for China and Hong Kong, which have eight titles in the Berlinale plus a raft of enticing features at EFM.
China has opened its borders after three years of zero-Covid policy, with its filmmakers eager to travel and greet overseas audiences face-to-face.
The timing is good, as two films — Zhang Lu’s The Shadowless Tower and Liu Jian’s Art College 1994 — are in the running for the Golden Bear, matching the record set in 2019 when two Chinese filmmakers — Wang Xiaoshuai (So Long, My Son) and Wang Quan’an (Ondog) — were in Competition (Zhang Yimou’s One Second was also selected but withdrawn at the last minute).
Filmmakers Han Shuai and Zhang Dalei, who won prizes at the virtual Berlinale in 2021, are set to make it in person this year with Green Night in Panorama and Why Try To Change Me in Berlinale Series respectively. But the attendance of most mainland Chinese filmmakers remains subject to Schengen visa approval at press time.
Meanwhile Hong Kong director Soi Cheang, who missed the opportunity to present Limbo at the 2021 virtual edition, is set to travel to Berlin. He plans to attend with actor Lokman Yeung, from his new film Mad Fate, and producer Johnnie To, who is on the Competition jury.
Sales and acquisition companies from Hong Kong such as Edko Films, Golden Scene and MakerVille have confirmed their attendance at EFM. But many others are preparing to launch their new slates at Hong Kong Filmart, which will take place in person for the first time since 2019, just four weeks after EFM.
Also in the market line-up is a rare film from Macau, Kissing The Ground You Walked On by director Hong Heng Fai, which recently competed in Rotterdam’s Bright Future strand.
Berlinale
Absence
Dir. Wu Lang
This feature debut stars Lee Kang-Sheng (Days) and Li Meng (A Touch Of Sin), both from director Wu’s short film of the same name selected for Cannes’ shorts competition in 2021. Sharing a similar storyline set in Wu’s hometown of Haikou on Hainan Island, Absence — which screens in the Encounters section — follows two former lovers who get back together after 10 years apart, before the realities of their situation set in. Major backers include Shanghai Turan Movie, Haikou Qinglan Visual Art Development, Joicy Studio and WuTiaoRen (Guangzhou) Cultural Communication.
Contact: Rediance
Art College 1994
Dir. Liu Jian
Previously in Competition with Have A Nice Day in 2017, animation director Liu competes for the Golden Bear again with a coming-of-age drama based on his own recollections as an art student. It offers a bittersweet look at youth in the 1990s when China was opening up to the world. The animated feature is produced by Yang Cheng through his Nezha Bros Pictures along with music company Modern Sky Entertainment and China Academy of Art’s School of Animation and Games in Hangzhou, where Liu teaches as a professor.
Contact: Memento International
Deep Sea
Dir. Tian Xiaopeng
This 3D-animated feature receives its international premiere in Generation Kplus following a Chinese New Year release in China. The fantasy adventure follows a girl who falls into the sea while on a family cruise, only to meet an underwater chef with whom she embarks on a journey between dreams and reality. Director Tian, whose debut Monkey King: Hero Is Back proved a major hit in 2015, worked with his team to develop a CG technique based around particles and create 3D images from abstract Chinese ink painting. The film is produced by Yi Qiao’s October Media and Enlight Pictures.
Contact: Gabrielle Rozing, Fortissimo Films
Green Night
Dir. Han Shuai
In her first starring role since a 2018 tax scandal, superstar Fan Bingbing plays a Chinese woman drawn into a thrilling escape with a mysterious girl, which becomes her only chance of breaking free from her controlling Korean husband. Lee Joo Young and Kim Young Ho co-star in Green Night, which shot in South Korea in spring 2022. The Panorama screening was produced by Liu Ziyi and Wang Jing, and is the second film of Chinese director Han, whose debut Summer Blur won the grand prix in the Generation Kplus strand in 2021.
Contact: Sebastien Chesneau, Cercamon
Mad Fate
Dir. Soi Cheang
This murder mystery marks Hong Kong director Cheang’s second consecutive film to premiere in Berlinale Special following noir thriller Limbo in 2021. Lam Ka Tung (Limbo) and Lokman Yeung, from boyband Mirror, star in the story of a teenage psychopath in a game of cat and mouse with a deranged metaphysician. Producers are Johnnie To and Yau Nai Hoi from Milkyway Image for this first feature production backed by MakerVille, the entertainment subsidiary of Hong Kong telco PCCW.
Contact: MakerVille
The Shadowless Tower
Dir. Zhang Lu
Korean-Chinese director Zhang is back in Competition with a China-set drama about a food critic who drifts through the eateries of Beijing with his photographer, while looking for a fresh perspective on life with his young daughter and a long-lost father. The cast includes Xin Baiqing from Zhang’s Yanagawa, Huang Yao of The Crossing and renowned director Tian Zhuangzhuang. Zhang, who was born in China of Korean descent, has directed more than 10 features in both Chinese and Korean, including Berlinale titles Desert Dream (Competition, 2007), Dooman River (Generation Kplus, 2010) and Fukuoka (Forum, 2019).
Contact: Films Boutique
That Day On The River
Dir. Lei Lei
Following Breathless Animals, which played in Forum in 2019, director Lei returns to Forum Expanded with a hybrid documentary composed of a field recording made with his father in his hometown. In 2016, the pair travelled to Ningdu to conduct research for Lei’s animated feature Silver Bird And Rainbow Fish, discussing childhood memories and searching for the house where his father lived as a boy. Silver Bird And Rainbow Fishpremiered in competition at Rotterdam last year and in Annecy’s Contrechamp competition.
Contact: See Ray Studio
Why Try To Change Me Now
Dir. Zhang Dalei
The first Chinese-language series to be selected for Berlinale Series is the brainchild of executive producer Diao Yinan, whose Black Coal, Thin Ice won the Golden Bear in 2014, and director Zhang Dalei, whose Day Is Done won the Silver Bear for best short in 2021. Why Try To Change Me Now is adapted from Shuang Xuetao’s novel Moses On The Plain and stars Dong Zijian as a policeman who digs up a cold case about a taxi driver’s murder, only to discover his old neighbours are the prime suspects. Backer iQiyi will roll out the series on its global streaming platform in more than 190 territories after the international premiere in Berlin. Zhang’s debut feature The Summer Is Gone won best film at the Golden Horse Awards in 2016.
Contact: Bryce Tsao, iQiyi
EFM
Full River Red
Dir. Zhang Yimou
Having earned more than $615m (rmb4.2bn) during Chinese New Year, this period suspense comedy backed by Huanxi Media is China’s seventh-highest-grossing film of all time as well as the top-grossing film for veteran director Zhang. Set in the Southern Song dynasty, the story revolves around the murder of an envoy and a lost letter. Leading the cast are Shen Teng, one of China’s most bankable actors from last year’s hit sci-fi comedy Moon Man, and Jackson Yee from Better Days and Nice View. The prolific Zhang’s recent credits include Snipers, Cliff Walkers and One Second.
Contact: Jason Ieong, Edko Films
Gagaland
Dir. Teng Yuhan
Fresh from Rotterdam’s Tiger competition, this first feature by 23-year-old Teng is about a smalltown boy who runs away from his dull factory work to find fame as a live streamer of gaga-dance (a disco-like street dance). Teng was the top student when admitted to Beijing Film Academy, but dropped out after she chose to work in a Dongguan factory making Christmas snowmen. She made several art projects based on recordings of her life in the factory, including a short documentary that screened at CP Projects Space in New York.
Contact: Lantern Spirit Films
Hidden Blade
Dir. Cheng Er
This Second World War thriller about an underground espionage network stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai in his first Chinese-speaking role in five years, having appeared in Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings in 2021. Also starring is pop idol Wang Yibo from boyband Uniq in his first film release, along with a special appearance from Zhou Xun (Our Time Will Come). Backed by Bona Film Group, the $45m Hidden Blade has earned more than $118m (rmb800m) from its Chinese New Year release in China. Director Cheng’s credits include suspense thrillers The Wasted Times and Lethal Hostage.
Contact: June Wu, Distribution Workshop
Kissing The Ground You Walked On
Dir. Hong Heng Fai
This Macau-set drama played in Rotterdam’s Bright Future strand and received three nominations at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, including for best new director. Inspired by Chekhov’s play The Seagull, the film is about a writer who regains a love for his work when an actor moves in as his new tenant. Hong, who is also the film’s screenwriter and editor, works in film and theatre in Macau. His 2016 short film Crash won awards at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, South Taiwan Film Festival and China Independent Film Festival.
Contact: Swallow Wings
Say I Do To Me
Dir. Kiwi Chow
This Chinese New Year release from Hong Kong is a romantic comedy about a comedian who vows to go viral on YouTube by marrying herself. Backed by Chapman To of HK Film Production, it marks the screen debut of Sabrina Ng, a YouTuber and member of online platform Pomato, who plays opposite actor/director Chan Kin Long (Hand Rolled Cigarette). Chow’s directing credits include 2020 hit romantic drama Beyond The Dreamand documentary Revolution Of Our Times, which premiered as a surprise entry at Cannes in 2021.
Contact: Felix Tsang, Golden Scene
Silent Ghosts
Dir. Yang Heng
Director Yang’s latest film, which premiered in Rotterdam’s Harbour section, recounts the haunting tales of five men who encounter a mysterious woman whose identity appears different to each of them. Since winning the Busan New Currents award with his debut Betelnut in 2006, Yang has continued to deliver enigmatic works such as Sun Spots, Lake August and Ghost In The Mountains, the latter premiering in the Berlinale’s Panorama in 2017.
Contact: No Chopsticks Pictures
No comments yet