Jia Zhangke on Experimenting With AI for Cannes Entry ‘Caught by the Tides,’ Respecting the Audience
Sporting a warm smile and a pair of sunglasses – “Sorry, I’ve been busy editing and my eyes hurt,” he explained – one of China’s leading indie directors Jia Zhangke, whose upcoming film “Caught by the Tides” will be vying for the Palme d’or in Cannes next month, was guest of honor at the 55th edition of Swiss doc festival Visions du Réel this week.
Finished just in time for submission to Cannes, the film features his wife Zhao Tao, his muse over the last two decades, and tells the story of a couple spanning 20 years. (Jia previously spoke with Variety about the film in February when it still went under the working title “We Shall Be All.”)
Explaining how the pandemic gave him the opportunity to review his footage all the way back to 2001, he described his new film as “a concentration of 20 years’ experience,” which blends footage...
Finished just in time for submission to Cannes, the film features his wife Zhao Tao, his muse over the last two decades, and tells the story of a couple spanning 20 years. (Jia previously spoke with Variety about the film in February when it still went under the working title “We Shall Be All.”)
Explaining how the pandemic gave him the opportunity to review his footage all the way back to 2001, he described his new film as “a concentration of 20 years’ experience,” which blends footage...
- 4/19/2024
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The lineup for the 77th Cannes Film Festival has officially been unveiled. As of right now, 19 films will be competing for the prestigious top prize, the Palme d’Or. The festival will be running from May 14 through the closing ceremony on May 25 in the small town on the French Riviera. This year’s jury will be led by Greta Gerwig, fresh off of her success writing and directing “Barbie,” which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The remaining members of the jury have yet to be announced.
Having an idea of a filmmaker’s history at the festival can sometimes help give us an insight as to who could be in the best position to take home the Palme. For example, two of this year’s entries come from filmmakers who have previously claimed the Palme. Another five are from directors who have won prizes in official...
Having an idea of a filmmaker’s history at the festival can sometimes help give us an insight as to who could be in the best position to take home the Palme. For example, two of this year’s entries come from filmmakers who have previously claimed the Palme. Another five are from directors who have won prizes in official...
- 4/18/2024
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Acclaimed auteurs Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino and Andrea Arnold are among the filmmakers set to compete for the coveted Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
A total of 19 features were revealed today (April 11) that will play in Competition at the festival, set to run May 14-25.
Rarely a festival to veer far from familiar names, the Competition line-up is dominated by directors who have been selected multiple times for Cannes.
They include US filmmaker Coppola with sci-fi epic Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver and is set in a future version of New York City following a disaster.
A total of 19 features were revealed today (April 11) that will play in Competition at the festival, set to run May 14-25.
Rarely a festival to veer far from familiar names, the Competition line-up is dominated by directors who have been selected multiple times for Cannes.
They include US filmmaker Coppola with sci-fi epic Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver and is set in a future version of New York City following a disaster.
- 4/11/2024
- ScreenDaily
Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump drama The Apprentice, Anora, the latest from The Florida Project and Red Rocket director Sean Baker, and Andrea Arnold’s Bird, starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, are among the highlights of this year’s Cannes Film Festival competition.
Abbasi, the Iran-born, Sweden-based director, whose Holy Spider was a sensation of the 2022 Cannes festival, returns with his story of how a young Donald Trump and the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn built up Trump’s real estate business in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. Sebastian Stan stars as Trump, Succession‘s Jeremy Strong plays Cohn and Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) is wife Ivana.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things follow-up Kinds of Kindness will also premiere in the Cannes competition. The film, featuring the Oscar-winning Poor Things star Emma Stone, will be high on every Cannes attendee’s must-see list. The Greek auteur has again...
Abbasi, the Iran-born, Sweden-based director, whose Holy Spider was a sensation of the 2022 Cannes festival, returns with his story of how a young Donald Trump and the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn built up Trump’s real estate business in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. Sebastian Stan stars as Trump, Succession‘s Jeremy Strong plays Cohn and Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) is wife Ivana.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things follow-up Kinds of Kindness will also premiere in the Cannes competition. The film, featuring the Oscar-winning Poor Things star Emma Stone, will be high on every Cannes attendee’s must-see list. The Greek auteur has again...
- 4/11/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, who “humanizes China’s modern history – and turns it into poetry,” according to one critic, will be the guest of honor at Visions du Réel. The documentary film festival’s 55th edition runs April 12-21 in Nyon, Switzerland.
Jia, a leading figure in independent Chinese cinema, will present a masterclass exploring his body of work, and a retrospective of his films will run throughout the edition. The tribute is made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse and Ecal, the university of art and design in Lausanne.
“Since the outbreak of Covid-19, I haven’t left China for almost four years,” Jia said. “I feel like embracing the world again, as excited as a child about to go on a long trip for the first time. I am heading to Nyon for cinema that reveals the world as it really is.”
Jia belongs to...
Jia, a leading figure in independent Chinese cinema, will present a masterclass exploring his body of work, and a retrospective of his films will run throughout the edition. The tribute is made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse and Ecal, the university of art and design in Lausanne.
“Since the outbreak of Covid-19, I haven’t left China for almost four years,” Jia said. “I feel like embracing the world again, as excited as a child about to go on a long trip for the first time. I am heading to Nyon for cinema that reveals the world as it really is.”
Jia belongs to...
- 1/18/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke is set to receive an honorary award at the 55th edition of documentary festival Visions du Reel, taking place in Nyon, Switzerland from April 12-21.
Jia will attend the festival in person, marking his first visit to Europe since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, and is set to present a masterclass exploring how his work explores the history of China and its people.
The festival will host a retrospective of Jia’s work, which has included Still Life, which won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2006, and A Touch Of Sin, which won best screenplay at...
Jia will attend the festival in person, marking his first visit to Europe since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, and is set to present a masterclass exploring how his work explores the history of China and its people.
The festival will host a retrospective of Jia’s work, which has included Still Life, which won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2006, and A Touch Of Sin, which won best screenplay at...
- 1/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Film geeks, rejoice. Leading indie label Kino Lorber is entering the world of streaming. The company has launched Kino Film Collection, a new subscription video service available in the U.S. via’s Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, many now streaming for the first time. It will cost users $5.99 per month.
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
- 11/2/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Independent film distributor Kino Lorber has officially unveiled streaming service Kino Film Collection, available via Prime Video here.
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The Tokyo International Film Festival undertook a series of bold changes in 2020 to enhance its international reach, including a location change and major shakeups across staffing and programming. For the global film community, however, much of the overhaul went unfelt due to the travel restrictions of the pandemic. The Tokyo festival’s chairman, Hiroyasu Ando, emphasized at a press conference in the Japanese capital Wednesday that the event “aims to take a bigger leap” this year with its upcoming 36th edition, making good on its ambitions for a transformation.
“We’re really focussing on international interaction,” Ando said, noting that the festival would welcome some 600 overseas guests this year, including filmmakers, jury members and industry professionals, a major uptick from the 104 international industry VIPs who attended in 2022.
The Tokyo International Film Festival will open Oct. 23 with a gala screening of acclaimed German auteur Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, which...
“We’re really focussing on international interaction,” Ando said, noting that the festival would welcome some 600 overseas guests this year, including filmmakers, jury members and industry professionals, a major uptick from the 104 international industry VIPs who attended in 2022.
The Tokyo International Film Festival will open Oct. 23 with a gala screening of acclaimed German auteur Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, which...
- 9/27/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Everything started in the 90s when the digital revolution and the emergence of the first camcorders coincided with the Chinese documentarians' need to record the rapidly changing post-Tiananmen reality. Wu Wenguang's “Bumming in Beijing” (1990) became the first documentary outside of the official channels in China, and the whole wave of guerilla filmmaking was to soon follow suit. Among them was “West of the Tracks” (2003), a seminal work by Wang Bing demonstrating the New Documentary Movement's artistic potential. 2023 sees Wang's two most recent films included in Cannes Film Festival's official selection, marking a watershed moment for Chinese independent documentary cinema. The recognition, unsurprisingly, was long overdue.
The clash of the modern with the traditional, the main topic of 6th Generation's filmmakers, represented by the likes of Wang Xiaoshuai and Jia Zhangke, captivated the international festival audiences. Yet, the grimy and unglamorous works of their non-fiction colleagues never achieved the same level of recognition.
The clash of the modern with the traditional, the main topic of 6th Generation's filmmakers, represented by the likes of Wang Xiaoshuai and Jia Zhangke, captivated the international festival audiences. Yet, the grimy and unglamorous works of their non-fiction colleagues never achieved the same level of recognition.
- 5/27/2023
- by Olek Młyński
- AsianMoviePulse
Matthieu Laclau is a French editor who has been working in China since 2008. He studied Film Theory in Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle and received his Master’s degree in 2008. He’s currently living in Taipei. In 2013, he won the Golden Horse Best Editing for ‘A Touch Of Sin’ directed by Jia Zhang-ke and in 2017, the American Chlotrudis Awards Best Editing for ‘Mountains May Depart’ directed by Jia Zhang-ke. Both films were selected in Cannes Film Festival (Competition) and ‘A Touch Of Sin’ won the Best Screenplay.
Since then, he edited ‘Ash Is Purest White’ by Jia Zhang-ke (Cannes Film Festival / Competition), “The Wild Goose Lake” directed by Diao Yinan (Cannes Film Festival / Competition), “Nina Wu” directed by Midi Z (Cannes Film Festival / Un Certain Regard), “The Best Is Yet to Come” directed by Wang Jing (Venice Film Festival / Orrizonti).
We speak with him about the path that led him to edit film in China,...
Since then, he edited ‘Ash Is Purest White’ by Jia Zhang-ke (Cannes Film Festival / Competition), “The Wild Goose Lake” directed by Diao Yinan (Cannes Film Festival / Competition), “Nina Wu” directed by Midi Z (Cannes Film Festival / Un Certain Regard), “The Best Is Yet to Come” directed by Wang Jing (Venice Film Festival / Orrizonti).
We speak with him about the path that led him to edit film in China,...
- 5/12/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
New York-based distributor Cheng Cheng announces the North American release of “Ever Since We Love” directed by Li Yu with a new poster and trailer. The latest collaboration between award-winning filmmaker Li Yu and pop icon Fan Bingbing will start playing in virtual cinemas in select cities on September 17th and expand in the following weeks before arriving on DVD and streaming platforms this December.
Regarded as China’s prominent woman director, Li Yu had been telling stories about women on the fringe of society in her previous documentaries and narrative features recognized by film festivals in Venice, Berlinale, and Toronto. An adaption of contemporary novelist Feng Tang’s semi-autobiographical best-seller “Everything Grows”, “Ever Since We Love” marks her first attempt at a film with a male protagonist. Starring alongside Fan Bingbing, Li Meng, and Qi Xi, K-pop sensation “Super Junior’s” former member Han Geng plays a medical school...
Regarded as China’s prominent woman director, Li Yu had been telling stories about women on the fringe of society in her previous documentaries and narrative features recognized by film festivals in Venice, Berlinale, and Toronto. An adaption of contemporary novelist Feng Tang’s semi-autobiographical best-seller “Everything Grows”, “Ever Since We Love” marks her first attempt at a film with a male protagonist. Starring alongside Fan Bingbing, Li Meng, and Qi Xi, K-pop sensation “Super Junior’s” former member Han Geng plays a medical school...
- 9/5/2021
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
China Lost and Found: Eight Films by Jia Zhangke
One of the greatest directors to emerge in this young century, Jia Zhangke has captured his native country like few others. The Criterion Channel is now spotlighting his stellar body of work, including the new restoration of his debut Xiao Wu (1997), along with Platform (2000), Unknown Pleasures (2002), The World (2004), Still Life (2006), 24 City (2008), A Touch of Sin (2013), and Mountains May Depart (2015). Also playing is the documentary Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang from 2014.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas)
In the quarter-century since its debut, Olivier Assayas’ hilarious, mischievous, altogether unclassifiable Irma Vep stands merrily uninterested in many things contemporary movies are meant to be interested in—not ultra-sophisticated narrative gimmickry...
China Lost and Found: Eight Films by Jia Zhangke
One of the greatest directors to emerge in this young century, Jia Zhangke has captured his native country like few others. The Criterion Channel is now spotlighting his stellar body of work, including the new restoration of his debut Xiao Wu (1997), along with Platform (2000), Unknown Pleasures (2002), The World (2004), Still Life (2006), 24 City (2008), A Touch of Sin (2013), and Mountains May Depart (2015). Also playing is the documentary Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang from 2014.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas)
In the quarter-century since its debut, Olivier Assayas’ hilarious, mischievous, altogether unclassifiable Irma Vep stands merrily uninterested in many things contemporary movies are meant to be interested in—not ultra-sophisticated narrative gimmickry...
- 9/3/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Next month’s Criterion Channel selection is here, and as 2021 winds down further cements their status as our single greatest streaming service. Off the top I took note of their eight-film Jia Zhangke retro as well as the streaming premieres of Center Stage and Malni. And, yes, Margaret has been on HBO Max for a while, but we can hope Criterion Channel’s addition—as part of the 63(!)-film “New York Stories”—opens doors to a more deserving home-video treatment.
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
- 8/25/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Siff Young is jointly organised with the Cannes Marche.
Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff) announced the five directors who have been selected for Siff Young, a new talent support programme jointly organised by the Cannes Marche du Film, during the festival’s opening weekend.
Four of the filmmakers – Han Shuai, Liang Ming, Rao Xiaozhi and Wang Jing – attended the June 12 event in person, which was held as a forum with a live audience at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The fifth is Hong Kong-based Derek Tsang who was unable to come in person due to pandemic travel restrictions.
The directors were...
Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff) announced the five directors who have been selected for Siff Young, a new talent support programme jointly organised by the Cannes Marche du Film, during the festival’s opening weekend.
Four of the filmmakers – Han Shuai, Liang Ming, Rao Xiaozhi and Wang Jing – attended the June 12 event in person, which was held as a forum with a live audience at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The fifth is Hong Kong-based Derek Tsang who was unable to come in person due to pandemic travel restrictions.
The directors were...
- 6/14/2021
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
Co-founder and former Venice director Marco Muller takes new role.
Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke has returned to the Pingyao International Film Festival (Pyiff), following his surprise departure last year from the festival he co-founded.
At a press conference in the Chinese city of Taijuan today (June 1), Jia was present to announce a series of changes for the fifth edition of the festival, which will take place from October 12-19 in the ancient city of Pingyao in China’s Shanxi province.
Pyiff will now be co-organized by Shanxi Film Academy of Shanxi Communication University, which will see resources allocated to...
Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke has returned to the Pingyao International Film Festival (Pyiff), following his surprise departure last year from the festival he co-founded.
At a press conference in the Chinese city of Taijuan today (June 1), Jia was present to announce a series of changes for the fifth edition of the festival, which will take place from October 12-19 in the ancient city of Pingyao in China’s Shanxi province.
Pyiff will now be co-organized by Shanxi Film Academy of Shanxi Communication University, which will see resources allocated to...
- 6/1/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The great Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke has made both dramas and documentaries across his award-winning career so far, yet what binds all his movies is a sense that the labels of fiction and non-fiction aren’t as necessary as the observation that what he’s working in is a large, unimpeachable truth about people and progress in a rapidly changing China.
Sometimes it comes in story form, but against a hard reality — like his early pictures about disaffected teenagers or his Three Gorges dam film “Still Life” — and sometimes the focus is real people, but always in the context of the vast narrative that is China’s monumental economic and social transformation, a distinction that marks his latest documentary, “Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue.”
Having made two previous documentaries about artists — 2006’s “Dong,” about painter Liu Xiaodong, and 2007’s “Useless,” a snapshot of clothing designer Ma Ke — “Swimming...
Sometimes it comes in story form, but against a hard reality — like his early pictures about disaffected teenagers or his Three Gorges dam film “Still Life” — and sometimes the focus is real people, but always in the context of the vast narrative that is China’s monumental economic and social transformation, a distinction that marks his latest documentary, “Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue.”
Having made two previous documentaries about artists — 2006’s “Dong,” about painter Liu Xiaodong, and 2007’s “Useless,” a snapshot of clothing designer Ma Ke — “Swimming...
- 5/25/2021
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
Ten years after his last documentary, “I Wish I Knew” (screened in Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2011), acclaimed Chinese auteur Jia Zhang-Ke returns to non-fiction with “Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue,” the final panel in his trilogy about the arts in China. It follows Venice winners “Dong” (2006) and “Useless” (2007).
Continue reading ‘Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue’ Trailer: Chinese Auteur Jia Zhang-Ke’s Critically-Acclaimed New Doc Arrives In May at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue’ Trailer: Chinese Auteur Jia Zhang-Ke’s Critically-Acclaimed New Doc Arrives In May at The Playlist.
- 4/28/2021
- by Rodrigo Perez
- The Playlist
Chinese director Jia Zhangke has formally launched his new venture: a filmmaking school in his native Shanxi staffed by some of China’s top industry talent, including helmers Ning Hao and Bi Gan.
Communist party officials presided over an inauguration ceremony for the Shanxi Film Academy that was attended by major firms seeking synergies between the school’s future graduates and their own thirst for new talent and content. The school is affiliated with the existing Communication University of Shanxi, which trains many graduates to enter top media regulatory bodies like the State Administration of Radio and Television.
Official support for the new academy was repeatedly highlighted in both speeches and news coverage of the event. Little can be achieved in China at scale without strong government buy-in.
“The comprehensive thinking and strategic arrangements of the Shanxi Province Party Committee and government for the economic transformation of Shanxi has inspired us,...
Communist party officials presided over an inauguration ceremony for the Shanxi Film Academy that was attended by major firms seeking synergies between the school’s future graduates and their own thirst for new talent and content. The school is affiliated with the existing Communication University of Shanxi, which trains many graduates to enter top media regulatory bodies like the State Administration of Radio and Television.
Official support for the new academy was repeatedly highlighted in both speeches and news coverage of the event. Little can be achieved in China at scale without strong government buy-in.
“The comprehensive thinking and strategic arrangements of the Shanxi Province Party Committee and government for the economic transformation of Shanxi has inspired us,...
- 4/21/2021
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Shot shortly after Pai Ching-jui returned from Italy, where he studied film and got acquainted with neo-realism,”A Morning in Taipei” delivers exactly what its title suggests, through a number of sequences that highlight a plethora of aspects of life in Taipei, accompanied by music scored by Lim Giong, singer, musician and film composer.
A Morning in Taipei is screening at Electric Shadows Asian Film Festival
As Pai Ching-jui’s approach is that of the tour guide, the short begins from very early in the morning, as the city gradually begins to wake up. The sequences begin from outside the city, where a group of women are carrying baskets on a stick placed in their shoulders, probably containing fruits and vegetables. Then the camera gets into the city as the dawn breaks and traffic begins to pick in the filled with fog streets. The billboards in the street, the bright...
A Morning in Taipei is screening at Electric Shadows Asian Film Festival
As Pai Ching-jui’s approach is that of the tour guide, the short begins from very early in the morning, as the city gradually begins to wake up. The sequences begin from outside the city, where a group of women are carrying baskets on a stick placed in their shoulders, probably containing fruits and vegetables. Then the camera gets into the city as the dawn breaks and traffic begins to pick in the filled with fog streets. The billboards in the street, the bright...
- 4/18/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
(February 9th, 2021, New York, NY) New York-based distributor Cheng Cheng releases new US poster and trailer for A First Farewell by Wang Lina. The winner of the Best Film award at Berlinale’s Generation Kplus will start playing in virtual cinemas in select cities on February 19th and roll to more locations in the following weeks. The filmmaker Wnag Lina spent four years documenting the protagonist’s life in her hometown Xinjiang, delivering an awe-inspiring debut about the joys of growing up as Uyghurs on the picturesque land and the emotional costs of assimilating into the prosperous mainstream.
Aside from newcomer Wang Lina’s true-to-life writing and direction, top-notch technical works from cinematographer Li Yong, editor Matthieu Laclau (A Touch of Sin), and sound designer Li Danfeng (Long Day’s Journey into Night) solidify the gem praised by press as “another sign of independent cinema revival in China”. Since premiering at Berlinale,...
Aside from newcomer Wang Lina’s true-to-life writing and direction, top-notch technical works from cinematographer Li Yong, editor Matthieu Laclau (A Touch of Sin), and sound designer Li Danfeng (Long Day’s Journey into Night) solidify the gem praised by press as “another sign of independent cinema revival in China”. Since premiering at Berlinale,...
- 2/11/2021
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
The world we currently orbit is a strange and confined one. This world has introduced us to a new type of solitude as unfamiliar feelings surface that are unique to a chaotic world amidst a global pandemic. During this time, reflection has happened upon us all to varying degrees. As we move into winter with no prospect of clarity, we seek out ways to stay positive and escape the distress of uncertainty. A constant source of solace during this time has been the (re)discovery of cinema. Through cinema the exploration of other worlds is possible: small pockets of alternate realities to escape the reality of a winter stuck inside the house, missing loved ones and the joys of full bodied freedom.It came as perfect timing then, that as "melancholy fall" became my particular cinematic mood, Pure Person Press released a new charity compilation Va focused on musician and...
- 12/4/2020
- MUBI
Cinema Guild Acquires Berlinale & New York Film Festival Docu ‘Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue’
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has picked up U.S. distribution rights to Jia Zhangke’s documentary Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue. The Chinese film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February and made its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival earlier this fall. Cinema Guild is eyeing a release for early next year.
Zhangke delivers here a vital document of a changing Chinese society, interviewing three prominent authors—Jia Pingwa, Yu Hua and Liang Hong—born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, respectively, and all from the same Shanxi province where the filmmaker also grew up. In their stories, the dire circumstances they faced in their rural villages and small towns are recounted, and the substantial political effort undertaken to address it, from the social revolution of the 1950s through the unrest of the late 1980s.
“We...
Zhangke delivers here a vital document of a changing Chinese society, interviewing three prominent authors—Jia Pingwa, Yu Hua and Liang Hong—born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, respectively, and all from the same Shanxi province where the filmmaker also grew up. In their stories, the dire circumstances they faced in their rural villages and small towns are recounted, and the substantial political effort undertaken to address it, from the social revolution of the 1950s through the unrest of the late 1980s.
“We...
- 11/10/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and producer Ichiyama Shozo were the other speakers.
At the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today (November 7), Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke failed to show up for a scheduled hybrid on-and-offline Asia Lounge talk with Japanese filmmaker Kiyosho Kurosawa, moderated by producer and Tokyo Filmex head Ichiyama Shozo.
The two Japanese cineastes carried on in Jia’s absence, with Shozo, who has served as producer on the Chinese director’s films including Ash Is Purest White, Mountains May Depart and A Touch Of Sin, answering Kurosawa’s and later the online audience’s questions about the Chinese filmmaker’s methods and plans.
At the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today (November 7), Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke failed to show up for a scheduled hybrid on-and-offline Asia Lounge talk with Japanese filmmaker Kiyosho Kurosawa, moderated by producer and Tokyo Filmex head Ichiyama Shozo.
The two Japanese cineastes carried on in Jia’s absence, with Shozo, who has served as producer on the Chinese director’s films including Ash Is Purest White, Mountains May Depart and A Touch Of Sin, answering Kurosawa’s and later the online audience’s questions about the Chinese filmmaker’s methods and plans.
- 11/7/2020
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
The upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival, kicking off Oct. 31, will host a new panel discussion series featuring some of Asia’s most accomplished arthouse filmmakers.
Dubbed the “Asia Lounge,” the program was proposed and co-organized by Palme d’Or winning Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters). The series will pair selected directors for an hour and half-long conversation about their craft, industry trends and the impact of Covid-19 on the film business.
Some of the directors confirmed to take part are Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin), Thai Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee ...
Dubbed the “Asia Lounge,” the program was proposed and co-organized by Palme d’Or winning Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters). The series will pair selected directors for an hour and half-long conversation about their craft, industry trends and the impact of Covid-19 on the film business.
Some of the directors confirmed to take part are Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin), Thai Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee ...
- 10/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival, kicking off Oct. 31, will host a new panel discussion series featuring some of Asia’s most accomplished arthouse filmmakers.
Dubbed the “Asia Lounge,” the program was proposed and co-organized by Palme d’Or winning Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters). The series will pair selected directors for an hour and half-long conversation about their craft, industry trends and the impact of Covid-19 on the film business.
Some of the directors confirmed to take part are Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin), Thai Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee ...
Dubbed the “Asia Lounge,” the program was proposed and co-organized by Palme d’Or winning Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters). The series will pair selected directors for an hour and half-long conversation about their craft, industry trends and the impact of Covid-19 on the film business.
Some of the directors confirmed to take part are Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin), Thai Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee ...
- 10/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The fourth annual Pingyao International Film Festival will run as an in-person event from Oct. 10 to 19 in the central Chinese province of Shanxi.
Chinese director Diao Yinan, who won the 2014 Golden Bear for his gritty thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice” and premiered his latest neo-noir “Wild Goose Lake” at Cannes last year, will act as “festival mentor,” hosting special screenings of his own works and a masterclass.
In a video message, Diao complimented Pingyao on being “unique and professional,” a place that “gathers people like a bonfire, with everyone chatting around.” He praised the festival for its support of young talent, saying that it has “provided a platform for [young people] to join each other, to discuss openly and explore freely.”
Founded by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke (“A Touch of Sin”) and Marco Muller, the former director of the Venice Film Festival who serves as Pingyao’s artistic director, the festival unfolds...
Chinese director Diao Yinan, who won the 2014 Golden Bear for his gritty thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice” and premiered his latest neo-noir “Wild Goose Lake” at Cannes last year, will act as “festival mentor,” hosting special screenings of his own works and a masterclass.
In a video message, Diao complimented Pingyao on being “unique and professional,” a place that “gathers people like a bonfire, with everyone chatting around.” He praised the festival for its support of young talent, saying that it has “provided a platform for [young people] to join each other, to discuss openly and explore freely.”
Founded by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke (“A Touch of Sin”) and Marco Muller, the former director of the Venice Film Festival who serves as Pingyao’s artistic director, the festival unfolds...
- 9/29/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
A film about an infection and the upset, paranoia, and unease that follows is, well, tailor-made for right now. There is no better time, then, to see director Jin Wang’s The Best Is Yet to Come, a selection at both the 2020 Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. It is a complex study of the illegal blood trade that helped hepatitis B carriers circumvent the discrimination they faced when seeking jobs and applying for school in early-2000s Beijing. While there is not a direct correlation to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is impossible not to make connections between both the story itself and even its creation. As Wang explains in the film’s press notes, “Due to the pandemic, post-production took place online. The editor and I were 1300km apart. Distance sparks reflection.”
The Best Is Yet to Come is the feature directorial debut from Wang, who...
The Best Is Yet to Come is the feature directorial debut from Wang, who...
- 9/10/2020
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
First-time director Jing Wang sees the pain that his mentor Jia Zhangke has experienced on the movie set as motivation for his filmmaking journey. The perfection, precision and attention to details that he aspires to in his directorial debut “The Best Is Yet to Come” are the fruits born from being on the set with the Chinese auteur.
Wang, who has worked as assistant director on Jia’s “Ash Is Purest White,” “Mountains May Depart” and “Touch of Sin,” recalls that the director would sometimes get furious on the set over what was seen as something very minor, such as a prop letter without a stamp chop, or a tiny maltreatment of an actor’s costume.
“He blasted on the set, telling the crew that he did not want any irreversible mistakes to stay in this film should this film live and be revisited by people in the future. It...
Wang, who has worked as assistant director on Jia’s “Ash Is Purest White,” “Mountains May Depart” and “Touch of Sin,” recalls that the director would sometimes get furious on the set over what was seen as something very minor, such as a prop letter without a stamp chop, or a tiny maltreatment of an actor’s costume.
“He blasted on the set, telling the crew that he did not want any irreversible mistakes to stay in this film should this film live and be revisited by people in the future. It...
- 9/9/2020
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
Produced by Jia Zhangke, the film follows an aspiring journalist facing a moral dilemma while investigating a story.
Beijing-based sales agent Rediance has picked up international rights to Wang Jing’s debut feature, The Best Is Yet To Come, which has been selected for the Orizzonti Competition of Venice Film Festival as well as Toronto International Film Festival.
Produced by Jia Zhangke, the film is set in Beijing 17 years ago and tells the story of an aspiring journalist who faces a huge career dilemma while investigating a story about carriers of Hepatitis B.
Wang was born in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province,...
Beijing-based sales agent Rediance has picked up international rights to Wang Jing’s debut feature, The Best Is Yet To Come, which has been selected for the Orizzonti Competition of Venice Film Festival as well as Toronto International Film Festival.
Produced by Jia Zhangke, the film is set in Beijing 17 years ago and tells the story of an aspiring journalist who faces a huge career dilemma while investigating a story about carriers of Hepatitis B.
Wang was born in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province,...
- 8/7/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
China’s Cmc Pictures will bring a line-up of five titles to the Cannes virtual market this year, including “Assassin in Red,” a major blockbuster set to hit next Chinese New Year.
The firm will be selling global rights outside of China and Southeast Asia to the fantasy drama directed by Lu Yang and executive produced by Ning Hao (“Crazy Alien”).
The film, whose Mandarin title translates to “Assassinate the Novelist,” tells the story of a man who, in order to save his missing daughter, is tasked with killing a writer whose writing creates a parallel world that begins to interact with the real one.
The title reunites “Brotherhood of Blades II” stars Yang Mi (“Tiny Times”) and Lei Jiayin (“The Longest Day in Chang’an”), alongside Golden Horse Award winner Dong Zijiang (of Jia Zhangke’s “Mountains May Depart” and “Ash is Purest White”).
Cmc also brings two of its...
The firm will be selling global rights outside of China and Southeast Asia to the fantasy drama directed by Lu Yang and executive produced by Ning Hao (“Crazy Alien”).
The film, whose Mandarin title translates to “Assassinate the Novelist,” tells the story of a man who, in order to save his missing daughter, is tasked with killing a writer whose writing creates a parallel world that begins to interact with the real one.
The title reunites “Brotherhood of Blades II” stars Yang Mi (“Tiny Times”) and Lei Jiayin (“The Longest Day in Chang’an”), alongside Golden Horse Award winner Dong Zijiang (of Jia Zhangke’s “Mountains May Depart” and “Ash is Purest White”).
Cmc also brings two of its...
- 6/19/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Beijing, the sprawling capital of China, was just about to enter the U.S. equivalent of phase four of reopening amid the pandemic this coming Monday. But according to SupChina.com, plans to reopen movie theaters, sporting events, other indoor entertainment, and schools were swiftly canceled, as three new coronavirus cases appeared in the area this week. These mark the first new cases in the city in nearly two months. According to Chu Junwei, an official from the capital’s Fengtai district, Beijing is now in “wartime emergency mode,” with food markets shut down as well.
Theaters in Beijing won’t be opening just yet to get the summer movie season going in the capital, which makes up a significant number of China’s moviegoing public. The news of theaters shutting down once again comes just days after Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke took to social media to demand that the film industry,...
Theaters in Beijing won’t be opening just yet to get the summer movie season going in the capital, which makes up a significant number of China’s moviegoing public. The news of theaters shutting down once again comes just days after Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke took to social media to demand that the film industry,...
- 6/13/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Beijing, the sprawling capital of China, was just about to enter the U.S. equivalent of phase four of reopening amid the pandemic this coming Monday. But according to SupChina.com, plans to reopen movie theaters, sporting events, other indoor entertainment, and schools were swiftly canceled, as three new coronavirus cases appeared in the area this week. These mark the first new cases in the city in nearly two months. According to Chu Junwei, an official from the capital’s Fengtai district, Beijing is now in “wartime emergency mode,” with food markets shut down as well.
Theaters in Beijing won’t be opening just yet to get the summer movie season going in the capital, which makes up a significant number of China’s moviegoing public. The news of theaters shutting down once again comes just days after Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke took to social media to demand that the film industry,...
Theaters in Beijing won’t be opening just yet to get the summer movie season going in the capital, which makes up a significant number of China’s moviegoing public. The news of theaters shutting down once again comes just days after Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke took to social media to demand that the film industry,...
- 6/13/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Since we don’t know what we are looking forward to, let’s look back at this year’s Berlinale 2020. As they say here in Germany, “Rucksicht is besser”. (“Hindsight is better.”)This year’s Berlinale was especially busy for me as I was invited to give tours and presentations to the emerging talents of the Berlinale Talents; to an Ethiopian delegation of filmmakers, to students of the London Film School and to students of the Birkbeck University of London and to a group called the Second Berlin China Executive Program comprised of young Chinese cineastes living in the diaspora including U.K., Germany, Italy and USA.
Little did we know that when we returned to our respective homes we would be forced into self-isolation. We were all very lucky that the Corona Virus did not affect anyone and for that we thank the 110 Chinese companies and individuals who had...
Little did we know that when we returned to our respective homes we would be forced into self-isolation. We were all very lucky that the Corona Virus did not affect anyone and for that we thank the 110 Chinese companies and individuals who had...
- 5/1/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Jia Zhangke on Cinema in the Time of Coronavirus and the Undeniable Truths of Documentary Filmmaking
For more than two and a half decades, the films of Jia Zhangke have given the world a poetic and deeply personal account of the shifting social plains of modern China. From early masterworks The World (2004) and Still Life (2006), to the baroque genre leanings of A Touch of Sin (2013) and–more recently–the far-reaching epics of Mountains May Depart (2015) and Ash is Purest White (2018), his work has organically documented that sea change without ever zooming out too much from the human lives within.
Jia makes a rare return to documentary filmmaking, his first in ten years, with Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue, a movie that sees the director looking back once again. It is an account of the urbanization of his native Chanxi province, although this time told through the memories of four authors (three living and one dead). Swimming Out recently premiered at the Berlin International Film...
Jia makes a rare return to documentary filmmaking, his first in ten years, with Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue, a movie that sees the director looking back once again. It is an account of the urbanization of his native Chanxi province, although this time told through the memories of four authors (three living and one dead). Swimming Out recently premiered at the Berlin International Film...
- 3/16/2020
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Berlin Review: Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue Finds Jia Zhangke Returning to the Waves of Time
Of all the monumental parts that tend to constitute the films of Jia Zhangke–the shifting socio-economic landscapes; the departing mountains; Zhao Tao–none has been as prevalent or essential as time. He is a director with one eye on the then and one eye on the now (and occasionally one on the future).
Time is once again key to his latest work, a documentary titled Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, in which Jia uses both the writings of Ma Feng and a series of interviews with celebrated authors from his native Chanxi to cast an eye over China’s shift from rural to urban living; the implications of that change if not the more state-censorship-sensitive aspects. The mood, as ever, is one of reminiscence.
The interviews feel largely unedited, almost rambling at times, showing the manner in which writers speak about the past and not how they write about it.
Time is once again key to his latest work, a documentary titled Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, in which Jia uses both the writings of Ma Feng and a series of interviews with celebrated authors from his native Chanxi to cast an eye over China’s shift from rural to urban living; the implications of that change if not the more state-censorship-sensitive aspects. The mood, as ever, is one of reminiscence.
The interviews feel largely unedited, almost rambling at times, showing the manner in which writers speak about the past and not how they write about it.
- 2/22/2020
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
The Berlin Film Festival felt the impact of China’s coronavirus outbreak in the days leading up to the 2020 edition, with 118 cancellations from people attending either the festival or the market. However, one of the biggest names in China pulled it off. Direcr Jia Zhangke arrived in Berlin for the start of the festival, just in time to premiere his new documentary, “Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue,” which chronicles three generations of Chinese writers. “It was quite a challenge,” the filmmaker said through a translator in an interview with IndieWire at the festival, “but we made it.”
However, the coronavirus has already had a direct impact on his work back home. Jia, best known for intricate dramas such as “A Touch of Sin” and last year’s “Ash is Purest White,” had been preparing to shoot a new narrative feature when the virus broke out in the Wuhan region last December.
However, the coronavirus has already had a direct impact on his work back home. Jia, best known for intricate dramas such as “A Touch of Sin” and last year’s “Ash is Purest White,” had been preparing to shoot a new narrative feature when the virus broke out in the Wuhan region last December.
- 2/21/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company is also stepping into Asian TV series sales with Horizon Tower.
Fortissimo Films is launching sales at the Efm on two Chinese titles – fantasy action film The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity and arthouse drama Hot Soup, directed by Zhang Ming, whose 2018 The Pluto Moment premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight.
The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company is also stepping into Asian TV series sales with Horizon Tower, produced by Tencent Penguin Pictures. All three titles are currently in post-production and scheduled for delivery later in 2020.
Directed by Guo Jingming (Tiny Times franchise), The Yin-Yang Master:...
Fortissimo Films is launching sales at the Efm on two Chinese titles – fantasy action film The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity and arthouse drama Hot Soup, directed by Zhang Ming, whose 2018 The Pluto Moment premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight.
The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company is also stepping into Asian TV series sales with Horizon Tower, produced by Tencent Penguin Pictures. All three titles are currently in post-production and scheduled for delivery later in 2020.
Directed by Guo Jingming (Tiny Times franchise), The Yin-Yang Master:...
- 2/18/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Mainland China has as many outstanding movies to offer as Hong Kong, even though they are sometimes overshadowed by international releases. Many people might not even know that China has one of the biggest movie scenes, with the six generations of talented filmmakers. Thanks to them, Chinese film culture is growing bigger. And better! Here are six outstanding Chinese films that cover all the basic genres. Expect nothing short of outstanding performances and director talent.
Red Sorghum (1987)
This is a classic example from the Golden Age of the Chinese cinema. It portrays the life of a Chinese peasant girl, who is supposed to get married to a leprous man. The film shows common hardships, associated with the Japanese military intervention in the 1930s. Red Sorghum is a true classic, which embraces unique Chinese film and visual culture. Here, historic themes are always relevant and popular. The cinematography is very bright and full of contrasts,...
Red Sorghum (1987)
This is a classic example from the Golden Age of the Chinese cinema. It portrays the life of a Chinese peasant girl, who is supposed to get married to a leprous man. The film shows common hardships, associated with the Japanese military intervention in the 1930s. Red Sorghum is a true classic, which embraces unique Chinese film and visual culture. Here, historic themes are always relevant and popular. The cinematography is very bright and full of contrasts,...
- 2/12/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
Jia Zhangke is one of the most daring and prolific Chinese filmmakers currently working today, having burst onto the international scene with his sophomore film “Platform” in 2000, and most recently releasing “Ash Is Purest White” last year. The triptych emotional epic teamed him again with his wife and muse, Zhao Tao. His films “24 City,” “A Touch of Sin,” and “Mountains May Depart” also screened at the Cannes Film Festival to massive acclaim. IndieWire now shares an exclusive trailer for his rare 2010 film “I Wish I Knew” below, which opens at New York City’s Metrograph on January 24.
While Jia has primarily worked in narrative fiction films, he has, throughout his 20-plus-year career, forayed into documentary, and his 2010 nonfiction outing “I Wish I Knew” is a standout. Featuring sequences with Zhao Tao and even Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, “I Wish I Knew” is imbued with Jia’s poetic sensibilities, and...
While Jia has primarily worked in narrative fiction films, he has, throughout his 20-plus-year career, forayed into documentary, and his 2010 nonfiction outing “I Wish I Knew” is a standout. Featuring sequences with Zhao Tao and even Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, “I Wish I Knew” is imbued with Jia’s poetic sensibilities, and...
- 1/16/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Best is Yet to Come
Jia Zhang-ke made headlines at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival when he announced a trio of new projects and a collaboration with Momo, a popular social media dating app which sponsors Piff and has developed a new film production arm, Momo Pictures. First up is The Best is Yet to Come, which will be the first feature of Zhang-ke’s protégé Wang Jing, who served as Ad on his last three films.The project will star Bai Kei.…...
Jia Zhang-ke made headlines at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival when he announced a trio of new projects and a collaboration with Momo, a popular social media dating app which sponsors Piff and has developed a new film production arm, Momo Pictures. First up is The Best is Yet to Come, which will be the first feature of Zhang-ke’s protégé Wang Jing, who served as Ad on his last three films.The project will star Bai Kei.…...
- 12/31/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
To begin with, a disclaimer: There are practically no 2019 titles on my Best of the Decade list, not because there weren’t a lot of great films this year, but because I haven’t had the opportunity to live with them for all that long. My Best of 2019 list was its own challenge to write, but this year’s movies are just too new for them to have knocked around in my central nervous system the way these earlier titles have. Film historians can debate the major movie-related events of the decade — the rise of streaming, the dominance of Disney — but these are the films took up residency with me and refuse to move out:
11-30 (alphabetically): “Anomalisa,” “Before Midnight,” “Bernie,” “Bridesmaids,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Certain Women,” “Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Ex Machina,” “Force Majeure,” “The Great Beauty,” “The Handmaiden,” “Happy Hour,” “Holy Motors,” “Leave No Trace,...
11-30 (alphabetically): “Anomalisa,” “Before Midnight,” “Bernie,” “Bridesmaids,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Certain Women,” “Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Ex Machina,” “Force Majeure,” “The Great Beauty,” “The Handmaiden,” “Happy Hour,” “Holy Motors,” “Leave No Trace,...
- 12/24/2019
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
No one attending the Pingyao International Film Festival can escape learning about Jia Zhangke’s upcoming projects, with the same three trailers for them playing before each and every screening. The arthouse icon-turned-businessman’s presence looms large over the festival he founded in his native Shanxi province.
First off, there is a new collaboration between Jia and Momo, a Chinese social media app that started as a Tinder knockoff and now appears to be pivoting in more wholesome directions, with moves into live-streaming and, now, film production via a new arm called Momo Pictures. The app is one of the main sponsors of the Pingyao festival.
Jia will executive produce Momo’s first foray into features, a Beijing-based production called “The Best Is Yet to Come.” A co-production between his Fabula Entertainment and Momo Pictures, it will be the first full-length work by newcomer Wang Jing, a Beijing Film Academy...
First off, there is a new collaboration between Jia and Momo, a Chinese social media app that started as a Tinder knockoff and now appears to be pivoting in more wholesome directions, with moves into live-streaming and, now, film production via a new arm called Momo Pictures. The app is one of the main sponsors of the Pingyao festival.
Jia will executive produce Momo’s first foray into features, a Beijing-based production called “The Best Is Yet to Come.” A co-production between his Fabula Entertainment and Momo Pictures, it will be the first full-length work by newcomer Wang Jing, a Beijing Film Academy...
- 10/16/2019
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based mk2 films, which is in Venice with three films including Robert Guédiguian’s competition entry “Gloria Mundi,” is bowing sales on a raft of prestige documentaries, notably Jia Zhang-ke’s “So Close to My Land” and Jacques Loeuille’s “Birds of America.”
“So Close to My Land” marks the sixth collaboration between mk2 and the Chinese auteur, whose latest film, “Ash Is Purest White,” competed at Cannes in 2018. Jia also competed at Cannes with “Mountains May Depart” in 2015 and “A Touch of Sin,” which won the best screenplay award in 2013.
“So Close to My Land” is the third and final installment in a trilogy focusing on different artistic disciplines in China, after “Dong” (2006), about an acclaimed painter, and “Useless” (2007), about the fashion and clothing industry. Jia’s 2010 film “I Wish I Knew” played at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, while “Useless” and “Dong” opened at Venice and won prizes.
An...
“So Close to My Land” marks the sixth collaboration between mk2 and the Chinese auteur, whose latest film, “Ash Is Purest White,” competed at Cannes in 2018. Jia also competed at Cannes with “Mountains May Depart” in 2015 and “A Touch of Sin,” which won the best screenplay award in 2013.
“So Close to My Land” is the third and final installment in a trilogy focusing on different artistic disciplines in China, after “Dong” (2006), about an acclaimed painter, and “Useless” (2007), about the fashion and clothing industry. Jia’s 2010 film “I Wish I Knew” played at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, while “Useless” and “Dong” opened at Venice and won prizes.
An...
- 8/29/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Sales company Fortissimo Films has picked up international rights to three of the movies that will unspool in competition over the next ten days at the Shanghai International Film Festival. All are world premieres.
Top feature director Zhang Yang makes an appearance with “The Sound of Dali,” a documentary that examines the natural beauty surrounding Dali in Yunnan Province.
Noted actress, Qin Hailu makes her directorial debut with “The Return.” The film is a drama about an old soldier living in Taiwan who would like to return to mainland China. But doing so would mean leaving behind his companion from the Red Envelope Club singers. The film stars Chang Feng, Ge Lei, and Lei Kesheng. It is set for a theatrical release in China through distribution Companies Hehe Pictures, White Horse Film, and Pie Film Distribution on Sept. 12, 2019.
“Vortex” is a Chinese crime action film produced by Cao Baoping (director...
Top feature director Zhang Yang makes an appearance with “The Sound of Dali,” a documentary that examines the natural beauty surrounding Dali in Yunnan Province.
Noted actress, Qin Hailu makes her directorial debut with “The Return.” The film is a drama about an old soldier living in Taiwan who would like to return to mainland China. But doing so would mean leaving behind his companion from the Red Envelope Club singers. The film stars Chang Feng, Ge Lei, and Lei Kesheng. It is set for a theatrical release in China through distribution Companies Hehe Pictures, White Horse Film, and Pie Film Distribution on Sept. 12, 2019.
“Vortex” is a Chinese crime action film produced by Cao Baoping (director...
- 6/13/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen, who won Cannes’ Camera d’Or with his feature debut “Ilo Ilo” in 2013, and was chosen by Variety as one of its 10 Directors to Watch in the same year, is putting the finishing touches to his sophomore feature, “Wet Season,” which he is looking to premiere at an A-list festival. In the intervening six years, he has also been hard at work producing other filmmakers’ work.
Chen describes “Wet Season” as the story of a 40-year-old woman “who is having a bit of crisis in life and is on a journey to rediscover herself, redefine herself and restart [her life].” The woman’s friendship with a young man “helps her reaffirm her identity as a woman,” according to Memento Films Intl., which is handling international sales.
After directing several award-winning shorts, including “Grandma,” which won a special mention at Cannes in 2007, Chen was thrust into the global spotlight...
Chen describes “Wet Season” as the story of a 40-year-old woman “who is having a bit of crisis in life and is on a journey to rediscover herself, redefine herself and restart [her life].” The woman’s friendship with a young man “helps her reaffirm her identity as a woman,” according to Memento Films Intl., which is handling international sales.
After directing several award-winning shorts, including “Grandma,” which won a special mention at Cannes in 2007, Chen was thrust into the global spotlight...
- 5/16/2019
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The second movie for the 30-something Chinese director Xin Yukun, after “The Coffin in the Mountain”, “Wrath of Silence” premiered as the closing film of China’s First Film Festival last July, had its international premier at London Film Festival and finally arrives at Udine Far East Festival.. The film experienced some turbulences when its release was suddenly and inexplicably blocked. Being scheduled for October, prime season for movies in China, the censor block has deeply penalized its financial return.“Wrath of Silence”’s International rights have been acquired by the newly reappeared Fortissimo Films, famous for supporting Asian independent productions and filmmakers, Fortissimo, after the recently bankruptcy and closure, has now been acquired and rebooted by Chinese Hehe Pictures and “Wrath of Silence” is their first new title.
Baomin (Song Yang) is a young mute miner, with a short temper and a turbulent past that is the grisly cause of his muteness.
Baomin (Song Yang) is a young mute miner, with a short temper and a turbulent past that is the grisly cause of his muteness.
- 4/6/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
China is a vast, complicated nation that has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades, and filmmaker Jia Zhangke has captured that process in intimate terms. One of the country’s most revered directors, Jia has probed the nuances of Chinese identity with sophisticated character studies for more than 20 years. His more recent projects, including the Cannes-winning anthology work “A Touch of Sin” and “Mountains May Depart,” have taken on a more dramatic scale. That includes his latest effort, “Ash is Purest White,” in which the director’s wife Zhao Tao plays a woman imprisoned after she protects her mobster husband (Lia Fan). Released several years later, she tracks the man down, discovering a vastly different China in the process.
Like much of Jia’s work, the slow-burn drama is a haunting and perceptive look at the country’s ongoing evolution. While in New York to promote the movie, which is currently in limited release,...
Like much of Jia’s work, the slow-burn drama is a haunting and perceptive look at the country’s ongoing evolution. While in New York to promote the movie, which is currently in limited release,...
- 3/19/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The latest film from writer and director Jia Zhangke adds new insights to his previous titles like Still Life and A Touch of Sin. Again starring his wife Zhao Tao, Ash Is Purest White follows two outsiders for some twenty years as their fortunes flow and ebb in China’s new economy. Set partly in a gritty coal-mining town and partly on the Yangtze River at the moment when the then-under-contruction Three Gorges Dam was about to forever change the landscape, the film resembles the structure of Mountains May Depart in its use of three time periods and chapters. But, as Jia explains, what starts […]...
- 3/13/2019
- by Daniel Eagan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The latest film from writer and director Jia Zhangke adds new insights to his previous titles like Still Life and A Touch of Sin. Again starring his wife Zhao Tao, Ash Is Purest White follows two outsiders for some twenty years as their fortunes flow and ebb in China’s new economy. Set partly in a gritty coal-mining town and partly on the Yangtze River at the moment when the then-under-contruction Three Gorges Dam was about to forever change the landscape, the film resembles the structure of Mountains May Depart in its use of three time periods and chapters. But, as Jia explains, what starts […]...
- 3/13/2019
- by Daniel Eagan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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