益西卓玛 | Song of Tibet

Stunningly shot on real locations, Song of Tibet is much as its title sounds – a wistful, sometimes clunky melodrama with lots of ethnographic detail that’s a modern take on the ethnic-minority pics that China has cranked out since the ’50s. Helmer/co-scripter Xie Fei’s eye for colorful realism has always been stronger than his grasp of human drama, and this is no exception. Pic centers on a Tibetan woman, Yixizhuoma, and her turbulent marriage to a proud warrior type, Jiacuo, across half a century. Now in her 70s and with Jiacuo dying from lung cancer, Yixizhuoma recalls her story in flashback when visited by her granddaughter from Beijing: how Jiacuo kidnapped her as a young woman, how they fell in love on the flowery plains, how she was separated from her family in the stormy late ’50s, and how she finally found Jiacuo in the mountains in the early ’70s. With 90% of the dialogue in Tibetan, and not a Chinese or any politics in sight, this is escapist melodrama that’s an undemanding time-passer.

Directed by Fei Xie | Starring : Dawangdui, Danzengzhuoga, Laqiong, Renqingdunzhu, Dazhen | Presented at Chicago Film Festival, Pusan Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, St. Louis Film Festival

黑骏马 | A Mongolian Tale

Bayinbulag and Somiya are brought up, from a young age, as brother and sister by their adoptive grandmother. The three live happily in a yurt on the Mongolian steppes. Just before Bayinbulag is to leave for the city, to be trained as a vet, the grandmother suggests that Bayinbulag and Somiya should eventually marry. Bayinbulag, now training to be a musician, stays away for long periods of time without communicating with Somiya. He finally comes back expecting to marry her.

Directed by Fei Xie | Starring : Renhua Na, Tengger, Dalarsurong, Aojirdai, Ganghulag | Presented at Montréal Film Festival

香魂女 | Woman Sesame Oil Maker

If money can’t buy happiness, can it at least buy control over others? Xiang is hard-working, running a small sesame oil business. Her husband is lazy and drinks; her son is blood simple. When Japanese investors provide capital to expand Xiang’s business, she has the wealth to raise her social standing and buy a wife for her son, Dunzi. When money and a forceful personality fail to bend others to her will, including daughter-in-law Huanhuan, Xiang must find another way to tranquillity.

Directed by Fei Xie | Starring : Gaowa Siqin, Yujuan Wu, Kesheng Lei, Baoguo Chen, Xiaoguang Hu | Presented at Berlin Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival, AFI Film Festival

本命年 | Black Snow

Winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin in 1990, Black Snow is a politically daring tale of urban alienation and despair. A former prisoner, played by the great Chinese actor Jiang Wen, arrives back in his native Beijing to find that he has no family or prospects or friends, just his underworld contacts trying to drag him back into a life of crime…

Directed by Fei Xie | Starring : Wen Jiang, Hongxiang Cai, Tian Liang, Hong Yue, Cheng Lin | Presented at Berlin Film Festival, Singapore Film Festival

湘女萧萧 | A Girl From Hunan

China, 1900. Xiaoxiao, a girl of about 12, comes to a mountain village for an arranged marriage with a two-year-old boy, Chunguan. Strict clan rules govern all behaviors. She becomes her husband’s nanny (he calls her “sister”). Soon, Huagou, a local peasant, takes notice of Xiaoxiao, singing suggestive songs as they work and sending her compliments via the boy. At about the same time, Xiaoxiao sees “girl students” in the nearby town: young women her age who have friends who are boys, who read, who experience freedom. Xiaoxiao and Huagou begin a passionate affair, and, to her horror, she gets pregnant. Does death at the hands of the clan elders await her, or sale into slavery?

Directed by Fei Xie | Starring : Renhua Na, Xiaoguang Deng, Zongxiang Guan, Yu Zhang, Qing Lin | Presented at Cannes Film Festival