SIFF PROJECT| 2016 SIFF PROJECT ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF Enters Main Competition of BIFF

Recently, the 22nd Busan International Film Festival has announced 10 official selections for its main competition program New Currents, among which stands the Chinese film ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF. Produced by JIA Zhangke, directed by HAN Dong and starring by CHAI Chenggang, LIANG Jingdong, GAO Bo and HAN Sanming, the film was also included into the SIFF PROJECT of the 19th Shanghai International Film Festival last year.

In 2016, director HAN Dong brings ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF to the negotiation meeting of 19th SIFF PROJECT

Contemporary poet HAN Dong is a leading figure of “the third generation of Chinese poetry”, and advocates for the poetry creation philosophy of “a poem ends with language”, valuing the importance of oral composition. After 2000, HAN Dong started to focus mostly on writing novels, having published several publications successively. Before directing, HAN Dong also participated in a number of film projects related to screenwriting, planning and performing, which has prepared him for his career as a director later.

Director HAN Dong

The film ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF is based on the novelette created by HAN Dong in 1998, and presents a satirical black comedy with several young poets in a series of accidents. As a ludicrous non-realism work, the production faithfully retains the black humor characterized HAN’s novels.

Photo from ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF

New Currents is the only competition section of the Busan International Film Festival, with a jury consisting of renowned professional filmmakers. It selects outstanding works among the films directed by Asian new talents, as a venue to foster promising Asian directors and productions. Chinese directors JIA Zhangke, ZHANG Ming, ZHANG Lv and YANG Heng have also been rendered the chance to present their works in the same program before. Following the Most Creative Project of SIFF – NE ZHA entering the competition of New Currents in 2013, ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF becomes the second SIFF PROJECT nominated at the program.

Photo from ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF

Jointly presented by Emei Film Group, Ten Poets Film, Shanghai Alibaba Pictures, Xstream Pictures (Beijing), Nanjing Xinyufang Culture & Media Company Ltd. and MingYang Xingdou Film, ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF has received the investment from the Plan A program of Alibaba Pictures. And it is the eighth production launched by JIA Zhangke’s Wings Project, an initiative dedicated to incubating the growth of emerging filmmakers. Running for 7 years since 2010, the project has helped produced MR. TREE and FORGETTING TO KNOW YOU, which were selected into the SIFF PROJECT in 2009 and 2010 in respective, and also nominated at the film festivals in Shanghai, Berlin, etc.

Photo from ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF

As the film project financing platform of Shanghai International Film Festival, SIFF PROJECT has been playing an important role in Asian film market, especially during the rise of China’s movie industry. Not only has it become the incubator for good film works, but also the very place to discover Chinese talents. The submission for the 21st SIFF PROJECT opens from December 10, 2017 to March 1, 2018

Poster of ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF