Set against the backdrop of the contemporary black market for pirated DVDs in Beijing, Pirated Copy is a character-driven drama about the passion two couples have for each other and for film. It “demonstrates that [He is] one of the most interesting and versatile directors among China’s ‘Sixth Generation’”
Directed by Jianjun He | Starring : Bo Yu, Yamei Wang, Xiaoguang Hu, Narenqimuge, Yong Zhang | Presented at Vienna Film Festival, Singapore Film Festival
A larger-than-life hero, spectacular cinematography and a story originating from a famous Mongolian epic tale, Gada Meilin is the story of a reluctant leader who guides his people to victory against a tyrannical government who wants to steal their land. Highlighting the beautiful scenery of the Mongolian prairie, native music performed by Mongolian superstar Tang Ga-al plus the fascinating local customs and uninhibited character of the Mongolian people, Gada Meilin portrays the unforgettable symphonic poem of heroes.
Directed by Xiaoning Feng | Starring : Ebusi, Xiaowei Liu, Xiaoguang Hu, Deligeer, Ming Li | Presented at Montréal Film Festival
A young newlywed has a chance encounter with an enigmatic minivan driver with a passion for photography. When the amateur photographer confesses to her a previous love affair with a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to the newlywed, the young woman falls under the spell of this soft-spoken, unkempt, and seemingly hapless young man.
Directed by Quan’an Wang | Starring : Nan Yu, Chao Wu, Xiaoguang Hu, Desmond O’Neill | Presented at Shanghai Film Festival, Moscow Film Festival, Thessaloniki Film Festival
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
Won Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. A stunning visual achievement, this new wave Chinese film succeeds on many levels–as an ode to the color red, as dark comedy, and as a sweeping epic with fairy tale overtones. Set in rural China in the 1920s, during the period of the Japanese invasion. The sorghum plot nearby is a symbolic playing field in the movie’s most stunning scenes. Here, people make love, murder, betray, and commit acts of bravery, all under the watchful eye of nature. Based on a novel by Mo Yan 莫言, Red Sorghum is Zhang Yimou’s directorial debut. An anonymous narrator tells the story of his grandmother, a bride-to-be in an arranged wedding with an aging leprous winemaker, and his grandfather, who was one of the sedan-chair bearers escorting her to her wedding. Along the way, a bandit forces her out of the sedan chair, and the two exchange looks after he saves her. The pair is re-united following the winemaker’s untimely death, whereupon they assemble the old winemaking crew. They endure travails with banditry, pestilence, war with the Japanese and the ongoing process of making good sorghum wine.
Directed by Yimou Zhang | Starring : Li Gong, Wen Jiang, Rujun Ten, Chun Hua Ji, Jia Zhaoji | Presented at Berlin Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, New York Film Festival
Chinese Cinema 