REFRESHING CHINESE CINEMA

Screening List：

【 BEYOND BOUNDARIES 】

AQÉRAT

AN IMPOSSIBLY SMALL OBJECT

WHEN SUN MEETS MOON

SEN SEN

THE WHITE GIRL

FIVE WISHES OF AJI

【 INFINITE VISION 】

YUNJIE

WANGDRAK'S RAIN BOOTS

BIRDS IN MIRE

FATHER AND HERO

FIREWORK IN WINTER

【 PANORAMIC SCOPE 】

RIVER‘S EDGE

PEAR BLOSSOM

ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF

GHOST IN THE MOUNTAINS

WINTER IN MY HEART

【 BEYOND BOUNDARIES 】

AQÉRAT

Directed by: Edmund Yeo

Starring: Daphne Low / Kahoe Hon

Plot:

Hui Ling’s life will truly begin as soon as she makes it to Taiwan. Or so she thinks. She is driven by the belief that the only way to live a better life is to leave the country. Right now, she is at the Thai- Malaysian border, working odd jobs and saving money. Determined to make it even when she loses all her savings, she accepts her boss’s offer for quick money as a human trafficker. As she descends into the darkness of her sordid trade, she witnesses the atrocities perpetrated against the Rohingya immigrants. Her beacon of light through this is Wei, a young hospital worker who believes that she is a woman from his past. AQÉRAT is a sweeping tale of displacement and morality in contemporary Malaysia. What Hui Ling embodies is the belief that has driven generations of the Chinese diaspora: the idea that the foreign are better, and “a better life” is to be achieved no matter the consequences.

AN IMPOSSIBLY SMALL OBJECT

Directed by: David Verbeek

Starring: XIE Yuen / Chen-Hung CHUNG / David Verbeek / Klara MUCCI

Plot:

A photographer takes a photo of a little girl on the nightly streets of Taipei. In the dark, the girl flies a kite adorned with neon lights. She is suffering from unbearable growing pain as her childhood sweetheart is leaving, while the photographer knows nothing about this. After this encounter the memory of his own childhood starts to come back to him more and more and becomes intertwined with the identity of the girl, as looking at the picture he took, he starts to project his childhood onto hers. A meditative narrative in 3 parts; Taipei, on board an intercontinental flight and in Amsterdam. Stories beyond time and space unfold at the press of the shutter.

WHEN SUN MEETS MOON

Directed by: Benny LAU

Starring: Kathy YUEN / Daichi HARASHIMA / Aimee CHAN / Danny SUMMER / Mark LUI

Plot:

In 1992, a heavy rainstorm caused massive power outage in Hong Kong. At that night, two young astrology enthusiasts, Moon and Sun, met under the starry night by the seaside. When their affection to each other grew, Sun was admitted into a boarding school and would move to another country in a few months under his father's plan. Like the sun and moon, the couple could hardly see each other despite that they were living in the same city, but their love endured amidst the pressure and opposition from Moon's mother and overcame the challenges from teachers, friends and family. Time has come for Sun to depart…

SEN SEN

Directed by: AN Bon

Starring: WU Zhixuan / Nina PAW / YAN Yiwen

Plot:

“What is death?” This may be a tough question for a young kid like Sen Sen whom recently lost his brother. As he inherited his brother’s cell phone, he found out that his brother follows an online webcast named “Surviving over one hundred days.”The star of the webcast is granny Lili, an immigrant cab driver. She is diagnosed with stage four lung cancers, but she’s striving to live longer than she’s allowed. These two will figure out the answer to the previous question together…

THE WHITE GIRL

Directed by: Christopher Doyle / Jenny Suen

Starring: Ranya Lee / Kin-Ping Leung / Michael Ning / Joe Odagiri

FIVE WISHES OF AJI

Directed by: Zorigt

Starring: Bharyelslhan / Wuhargarelle / Naherya / Sudlerdany

Plot:

Aji is a boy of Mongolia nationality. He has five wishes, one of which is to become an actor. One time, he does become one of the two candidates for a lead part in a movie. But it requires horse riding skill. So he and the other actor MAO Dou are sent to the Inner Mongolia prairie to start horse riding training under teacher Bateer. To help Aji to learn how to get on the horse, Bateer makes a special equipment for him. Despite all this, Aji keeps failing again and again. One day, he finally succeeds. The training ends and the film team is expecting Aji to return to Shanghai. He is very curious about this international metropolis. But wherever he goes, he will think of the good times on the prairie. However, news comes suddenly that the film is postponed and it is not sure when to shoot again. Aji stands at the Bund and gets mixed feelings about it. But, his actor dream is not over yet.

【 INFINITE VISION 】

YUNJIE

Directed by: JIANG Nengjie

Starring: JIANG Yunjie / JIANG Chongxiu / JIANG Yunxia / JIANG Heng / JIANG Xin

Plot:

Jiang Yunjie, a twelve-year-old leftover child in a China's countryside, lived a tough life with her grandma and two step sisters. Compared to her classmates, Yunjie had to study hard and do heavy housework at the same time, because her parents went away to work this summer. Her grandma's sudden death prompted her to go out to find her parents. However, she hadn’t imagined the huge pressure and severe problems that they confronted…

WANGDRAK'S RAIN BOOTS

Directed by: Lhapal Gyal

Starring: Druklha Dorje / Pakmo Yangdrom / Jinpa / Shanma Jyi

Plot:

It's the rainy season in the Tibetan highlands. It's good for the crops, but bad for Wangdrak. He's the only boy in his village who doesn't own a pair of rain boots – and the other children tease him about it. His father has no money to buy any boots, plus he has other worries: there's a dispute among the farmers. Secretly, his mother swaps a goat skin for a new pair of light blue boots. But when Wangdrak proudly wears them to school the next day, the children laugh at him again because it has stopped raining and the sun is shining. At least Wangdrak can count on his best friend Lhamo. Set in the vast mountains of Tibet this film affectionately portrays the story of a young boy's dreams which are bound by the traditional structures of rural life.

BIRDS IN MIRE

Directed by: ZHANG Wanlin

Starring: YE Xiaowei / ZHANG Yufeng / ZHANG Ziqi

Plot:

In 2005, after an unsuccessful college entrance examination, Xiaofeng and LI Tao begin to idle away their long summer vacations. Xiaofeng comes from a family that is on the brink of breakdown. His father's cheating makes him resentful. And LI Tao lives in a family where his father is subordinate to his mother and they are quarreling all day long. Two teenagers wander around the city and decide to find something to do. Xiaofeng proposes to help LI Tao revenge on his classmate ZHAO Kai who bullies him. Although LI was hesitant, he agrees because he holds vague homosexual love for Xiaofeng and wishes to leave unique memories with him through this revenge. However, Xiaofeng falls for Gu Jia, and Li Tao has to hide his love and feeling. He wants to find an outlet for his repressed feelings, but in the end he realizes everything is in vain...

FATHER AND HERO

Directed by: SHAO Yafeng

Starring: JIANG Wu / SHAO Bing / YAO Rao

Plot:

The story's background is the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the Jinshan Grand Canyon. 20 years ago, in a gun fight, criminal QIN Jin got rid of the police, while police TIAN Jiao died and JIANG Han was seriously injured. 20 years later, JIANG Han goes after QIN Jin again. This time, the daughter of TIAN Jiao, Weiwei, is involved by coincidence. That gun fight in the past changed all three’s lives. Now, it’s like the history is repeating itself. Many secrets are revealed. The sins and honor not only belong to her father, but also creates unforgettable experience for her, too.

FIREWORK IN WINTER

Directed by: CAI Chengjie

Starring: TIAN Tian / WEN Xinyu / WANG Qilin

Plot:

After losing her house and husband, rural woman WANG Erhao leads a stranded life with her tenyear- old brother-in-law in a modified recreational vehicle. She drives this recreational vehicle around different villages, and talks about her unknown past to her little brother-in-law along the way in retrospect of her life. In order to find a warm place to survive the cold winter, she pretends to be a shaman to rid villagers of evil spirits, and ironically, her juggled deceits often become real. However, she soon loses her power to people’s greed and apathy, and in meager attempts of salvation, her life story eventually ends in tragedy and disillusionment.

【 PANORAMIC SCOPE 】

RIVER‘S EDGE

Directed by: WANG Chao

Starring: LI Wake / YI Ziqi

Plot:

A father is estranged from his son. The father is a successful businessman and hopes his son can take over the family business. However, the son loves poetry and longs for a different life. After graduation, the son goes to a remote mountain village in Yunnan Province to be a teacher. One day, the father suddenly hears the news of his son’s death. He is said to be washed away by the turbulent river when saving a drowning student. The father drops everything and leaves Beijing for Jiangbian Primary School where his son had worked for more than two years. While searching for his son’s body, he tries to understand his son and feels closer to him too. However, he then finds out that there was something else behind his son’s death, which is too hard for him to process.

PEAR BLOSSOM

Directed by: JIANG Lifen

Starring: QIAO Qiao / REN Donglin / GUO Guangping / JIANG Lifen

Plot:

The story is set in a part of southern China in the 1930s. Lihua, which means pear blossom in Chinese, comes to a family to make a wedding dress for them. The 38-year-old hostess has an fair with her cousin, Sicheng, a gentle and talented man growing up as Lihua’s neighbor. At a rainy night, Sicheng is holding Lihua in his arms, which is seen by the hostess. Lihua also has the affections of the host, who falls in love with her from the first sight. The host promises not to see Lihua any more under the request of the pregnant hostess. As the pear blossoms fall from the trees, the cloud is floating on a clear sky and birds are chattering. Lihua walks down the path, steady and slow.

ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF

（SIFF PROJECT 2016) 

Directed by: HAN Dong 

Starring: CHAI Chenggang / LIANG Jingdong / GAO Bo / HAN Sanming

Plot:

ONE NIGHT ON THE WHARF totally changes the image of modern poets and reveals what they are really like. Four ordinary poets experience a night of pandemonium. Three of them see off the other poet to the train station on the north bank of the Yangtze River by ferry. However, they miss the train after dinner and have to return to the south bank. So they wait for the ferry at the wharf town. They are so boring that they then hit on a girl at a shop, which leads to a fight with the local gangsters. The gangsters then fight against security guards, and the locals protect these poor poets. The poets are busy cozying up people, while the gang leader reveals a penchant for reciting poetry and in his great excitement, collapses... This film is adapted from the director’s novella in 1998 of the same name.

GHOST IN THE MOUNTAINS

Directed by: YANG Heng 

Starring: TANG Shenggang / SHANG Meitong

Plot:

Lao Liu returns home after years of drifting, and in a visit to his friend A Jie, he finds that their common friend Shi Tou has died in a robbery. His first love Yao Mei, who is also Shi Tou's younger sister, has come back for the incident, and they meet each other on the river bank. Meanwhile, A Jie is planning on another robbery in the city, and before he left, he goes drinking with Lao Liu, who gets drunk and hit in a motorcycle accident. Severely injured, he is carried home by a monk, and inspired by such experience, he then goes home to apologize to his brother Lao Wu for his wrongdoings in the past. Lao Wu forgives him, but shortly after dies when gambling. Lao Liu berried him and begins to live with his children. One night, A Jie comes to Lao Liu, asking Lao Liu to turn him in as he is wanted by the police so that Lao Liu can send the reward to his parents. Lao Liu drinks up and does what A Jie told him. However, two teenager on motorcycle follow him, and finally stab him to death and took all the money...

WINTER IN MY HEART

Directed by: YE Tian

Starring: ZHAO Jing / WANG Yong / LIU Lei / PAN Xingyuan / TU Hua / GONG Fangni

Plot:

This is a story about ideal, faith, emotion and responsibilities of the generation of educated youth. Educated youth YANG Qingshan, BAI Ju and FANG Dan went to the North Wildness with revolutionary ideal. But an accident became a turning point of the group of youth’s fate and changed their lives. YANG Qingshan left the northeast with pain. Forty years later, when he met BAI Ju who stayed in the Northeast, their past was evoked again. Memory and reality reflects the complicated relationship of human’s fate and time.