The Year of the Snake begins with a bumper six titles in the Berlinale from China, alongside market titles including the latest animated features.
The Botanist
Dir. Jing Yi
Screening in Generation Kplus, this debut film follows a lonely Kazakh boy in a remote village on the border of Xinjiang who finds solace in the company of plants until he meets a Han Chinese girl. Their friendship blossoms but is cut short when she has to move elsewhere. Producer Shan Zuolong’s credits include Bi Gan’s Cannes title Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Lee Hong-chi’s Love Is A Gun, winner of the Lion of the Future for a debut film in Venice. Xinjiang-born Jing has made several short films such as Bek and The Princess that explore China’s minority groups.
Contact: Magnify
Girls On Wire
Dir. Vivian Qu
This Competition title, starring Liu Haocun and Wen Qi, is a memoir of a transformative era amid China’s rapid changes. The story follows a young single mother who after killing a drug dealer seeks help from her female cousin, a stunt double. Over the course of three days they argue, separate and reunite. It is produced by Sean Chen and co-produced by UK-Irish producer Mike Downey. Qu’s Angels Wear White was in Venice Competition while Trap Street debuted in Venice Critics’ Week. A release in China is scheduled for March 8.
Contact: Films Boutique
Living The Land
Dir. Huo Meng
Playing in Competition, this family saga seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy examines sweeping socioeconomic changes from 1991 onwards that drove many to leave their villages for work in the cities, reshaping the traditional way of life. Floating Light (Foshan) Film and Culture, Shanghai Film Group and Phoenix Legend Films are backers. Director Huo’s debut fiction feature Crossing The Border — Zhaoguan won the Feimu best director award at China’s Pingyao and played in the On Transmission special programme at the 70th Berlinale in 2020.
Contact: m-appeal
Queerpanorama
Dir. Jun Li
Previously known as I Might Write About Us, Hong Kong director Li’s latest queer film is about a man who can only be honest about himself with a forged persona borrowed from men he has had sex with. Rising actor Jayden Cheung from drama series Left On Read plays the lead role in this US-Hong Kong production, shot in black and white. Li tackled transgender identity in his feature debut Tracey and homeless people in his follow-up Drifting, which premiered in Tokyo’s Asian Future Competition and Rotterdam’s Big Screen Competition respectively.
Contact: Best Friend Forever
A Story About Fire
Dir. Li Wenyu
This debut feature is a 2D animation hand-drawn in traditional Chinese ink painting style, and plays in Generation Kplus. The monkey protagonist embarks on a journey with his loyal wolf to steal fire for mankind and is transformed into a man on his return. The film is backed by Shanghai Animation Film Studio, the birthplace of some of China’s most high-profile animated films including Prince Nezha’s Triumph Against Dragon King. Midnight Blur Films is a co-presenter. Director Li is a professor of animation and digital art at Sichuan University.
Contact: Parallax Films
What’s Next?
Dir. Cao Yiwen
Screening in Forum, this debut film is an experimental sci-fi animation made by one person with the help of AI. Cao is a multi-hyphenate, responsible for producing, directing, writing, editing, music, sound design and animation. The dialogue-free film is set in ancient times when all creatures live harmoniously, before moving to the modern day and exploring whether mankind will go extinct due to greed and selfishness. Cao’s shorts include 2023’s Invader And Defender and 2024’s “Release” Nuclear Contaminated Water, which won a prize at Cannes’ Animaze Animation Day.
Contact: Lucky Even Film
Market
1 Girl Infinite
Dir. Lilly Hu
This queer drama, which premiered in Rotterdam’s Bright Future strand, revolves around a love triangle between two teenage girls and a drug dealer. This is Hu’s feature debut, shot in her hometown Changsha in Hunan Province and based on a true experience. She plays one of the two female protagonists along with Chen Xuanyu. It is produced by Latvia-based Trickster Pictures with Singapore’s Vanilla Films and US-based OGI Film, and executive produced by Eric Roth, an Oscar-winning screenwriter of Forrest Gump. Hu’s AFI thesis short film Cold Wall explores female issues.
Contact: Reel Suspects
Boonie Bears: Future Reborn
Dirs. Lin Yongchang, Qu Caijia
The 11th film instalment of the popular animated franchise brings back the beloved bears who venture into a dystopian world set 100 years in the future, only to find that planet Earth faces a huge environmental disaster. It opened on January 29 during the lucrative Chinese New Year period as the last of the five sci-fi instalments of the same Boonie Bears film franchise. The IP has built up a strong following in film and TV series, and even saw the first Boonie Bears-themed shopping mall open in Shenzhen last year.
Contact: Hedy Leung, Fantawild International
Out Of Touch
Dir. Xie Hanyu
This animation is a fantasy drama about a newly transformed cat-girl who observes the rhythms of human life as she wanders through a supermarket. A saleswoman is trapped in the shrine of lipsticks, a security guard seeks cures for his mysterious illness, and the long-separated mother and daughter reunite with their emotions clashing under the shadow of surgery. Elsewhere, a boy spins around in the room, confronting a bee who may or may not exist. This feature debut from Xie is produced by Paris-based Blackfin Production. Xie graduated from the oil painting department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.
Contact: Rediance
Operation Hadal
Dir. Dante Lam
This high-octane action film sees the return of the special Chinese operations team Jiao Long, when an offshore platform in Chinese territorial waters is occupied by mercenaries, unleashing a fierce fight in the deep sea. The cast is led by Huang Xuan, Yu Shi and Zhang Hanyu, with Bona Film Group as backers. It opened on January 29 during Chinese New Year in mainland China as director Lam’s follow-up to Operation Red Sea, which was China’s highest-grossing film of 2018. The veteran filmmaker is known for action and crime thrillers such as Beast Stalker and Operation Mekong.
Contact: Distribution Workshop
Roughly 12 Days Before
Dir. Meng Xing
This feature debut is a comedy drama shot in black and white and follows a little-known filmmaker who plans to travel from Beijing to Hangzhou and attend a gig with friends, but there is no telling if she can make it through all the complications in between. Qiqihar-born Meng has a PhD in materials science from the University of Birmingham and made a career switch to filmmaking after studying welding technology. Her lighthearted, urban women-themed miniseries Look At The Shit She Has Done! aired on Tencent in 2022 and became that year’s highest-rated miniseries.
Contact: Josie Wu, Beijing Hugoeast Media
The Shadow’s Edge
Dir. Larry Yang
Following 2023’s Ride On, Jackie Chan reteams with director Yang in this action film, playing a retired surveillance expert rehired by the Macau police force to team with elite detectives and capture a group of criminals. Emerging actors Zhang Zifeng (Sister), Ci Sha (Creation Of The Gods I: Kingdom Of Storms and its sequel), and Wen Junhui who is better known as Jun from K-pop group Seventeen round out the cast, along with veteran Tony Leung Ka-fai. It is backed by iQIYI Pictures (Beijing), Tao Tickets, Hairun Pictures and China ChenXiang Cultural Investment (Wuhan).
Contact: Clarence Tang, Golden Network
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