The Belt and Road Film Tour: MAY and DAY TRIPPER at Moscow International Film Festival

The 46th Moscow International Film Festival took place from April 19 to 26, 2024, in Moscow. Recommended through the Belt and Road Film Tour mechanism of Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), two Chinese films, MAY and DAY TRIPPER, made their debut at this year’s Moscow International Film Festival. Among them, MAY was selected for the documentary unit of the festival in main competition.

During the screening at SIFF, both films aroused wide attention from the industry and fans alike. The Shanghai dialect film MAY was nominated for the Golden Goblet Awards for Asian New Talent at the 25th SIFF and had its world premiere, where director Luo Dong won the Best Director award in that category. DAY TRIPPER was previously selected for the Work-in-Progress (WIP) unit of the SIFF PROJECT at the 24th SIFF during its post-production phase and received the honor of “Recommended WIP Project”.

Still from MAY

MAY, produced by Zhou Xun and directed by Luo Dong, tells the story of Yu Mei, a septuagenarian aunt from Shanghai who, despite two failed marriages, still believes in love and tirelessly seeks a suitable partner for herself. The film follows Aunt Yu Mei as she visits various social hubs for Shanghai’s elderly population, such as dance halls, IKEA, chess rooms, and parks. With humor, the film chronicles her and her friends’ lives at old age, unveiling another aspect of Shanghai citizens’ lives in a down-to-earth manner.

Director Luo Dong at Moscow International Film Festival’s online press conference

For the Moscow International Film Festival, director Luo Dong of MAY participated in a media conference organized by the host via video link, where he answered questions from international media about the film’s creation process. When asked why he chose to tell this particular story, Director Luo Dong shared, “In China’s major cities, there are many middle-aged and elderly women like May. They belong to my parents’ generation, and we can call them peers of New China. From schooling to retirement, they have grown alongside our country. We often think that people of this age group don’t pay attention to their personal lives; they focus more on health, retirement, and other practical matters. But the reality proves otherwise.”

Still from DAY TRIPPER

The debut feature film of young director Chen Yanqi, DAY TRIPPER, was chosen for the “Journey of a Thousand Miles” screening unit at the Moscow International Film Festival. The film unfolds over a day in an ordinary family of three in Northeast China, capturing glimpses of various characters in the city and depicting the complex emotional states and spiritual dilemmas commonly faced in modern society. It’s a wandering journey for a group of people, showcasing a surreal panorama of urban life and serving as a visual letter from the director, Chen Yanqi, to his hometown of Harbin.

Previously, DAY TRIPPER has competed in the “Free Spirit” competition unit at the 39th Warsaw International Film Festival in Poland, where it had its world premiere. It also met with domestic audiences at the 7th Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival.

The Moscow International Film Festival is one of the long-established film festivals in Russian history and a member of SIFF’s Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance. Previously, also recommended by SIFF, KARMA, a film shortlisted by SIFF PROJECT, and FIVE HUNDRED MILES, a Shanghai-produced film, were screened at this festival in 2022 and in 2023 respectively.

In addition, within the framework of the 46th Moscow International Film Festival, the organizer also held the BRICS Film Festival, a cultural exchange event held under the BRICS cooperation mechanism, and hosted annually by the rotating chair country of the BRICS. Through film screenings, it aims to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding among BRICS countries. In this BRICS Film Festival, China submitted the film ONE AND ONLY for competition, and LOVE NEVER ENDS and NEVER SAY NEVER for screening, to meet with local audiences in Moscow. Rao Shuguang, President of the China Film Critics Association, served as a Chinese jury member. After deliberation, ONE AND ONLY won the Special Jury Award.

In recent years, built upon the unique platform of the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance, SIFF’s Belt and Road Film Tour has become a vital catalyst for Chinese cinema and its creators to venture onto the global stage. This initiative has established a mechanism for year-round and global screenings, inviting outstanding Chinese films and related industry professionals to participate in film festivals overseas. This effort further enhances cultural exchanges between Chinese and foreign cinema, offering a nuanced, multifaceted portrayal of China to the world. The Belt and Road Film Tour, as gateway for countries seeking insight into Chinese filmmakers and the dynamic landscape of the Chinese film industry, is providing impetus for the internationalization of Chinese cinema.

The Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance, initiated by the SIFF Organizing Committee and established in 2018, now boasts 55 member institutions from 48 countries. Against the backdrop of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Alliance focuses on mutual film recommendations and filmmaker exchanges, aiming to enhance film curation capabilities, foster mutual understanding among filmmakers, promote film cooperation projects, strengthen cultural exchanges in the film industry, establish a close-knit information-sharing mechanism, and explore future development models for film festivals. Civilizations thrive with exchanges and mutual learning. Since its inception, SIFF, in collaboration with the Publicity Department of the Pudong New Area Party Committee (Culture, Sports, and Tourism Bureau) and the Management Committee of Shanghai International Resort, has organized the Belt and Road Film Week and established the Belt and Road Film Tour mechanism. These efforts have effectively facilitated two-way exchanges and mutual learning among filmmakers and film cultures of countries along the Belt and Road route, and significantly deepened the cultural connectivity and people-to-people exchanges among these nations.