SIFF Asia World Express | 3 Chinese Films Join JAFF of Indonesia

The 14th Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) opened on November 19 in Indonesia. On the occasion, three Chinese films – SPRING TIDE, THE SWING MAKER and HAVE YOUR NAME CARVED took on the SIFF Asia World Express and were exhibited at the SIFF Screening Unit – a special program JAFF set up for the Shanghai International Film festival (SIFF).

 

 Poster of 14th JAFF

 

As a film festival with widespread influence in Asia, JAFF held its 14th edition this year from November 19 to 23, and has screened a total of 107 outstanding Asian films that were produced over the past year. With the theme of “Revival” this year, JAFF intends to let the film festival serve as a medium to more deeply demonstrate and revive the long history of Asian civilization.

 

In 2018, SIFF and JAFF reached partnership concerning the World Express program. Under the agreement, every year SIFF will recommend outstanding Chinese works among the films that were included in the competition and exhibition of SIFF at the same year. These films will be screened at the SIFF Screening Unit set up by JAFF, so that more Indonesian audience can have access to diverse and sophisticated Chinese movies. In this way, the two sides hope to promote the exchange and mutual learning of film culture between the two countries. In 2019, SIFF built up its SIFF Asia unit. As a key part of the unit, the SIFF Asia World Express functions as a bridge for cultural exchanges between Asian countries, and JAFF is undoubtedly a major nub of the World Express.

 

 

As recommended by SIFF, three Chinese films showed up at the JAFF this year. They were: SPRING TIDE, winner of the 22nd SIFF Golden Goblet Award for Best Cinematography; and THE SWING MAKER and HAVE YOUR NAME CARVED, both selected into the SIFF panorama unit Refreshing Chinese Cinema. All the three films are realistic works that shed light on the ongoing changes in the Chinese society, highlighting the special interest of overseas festivals in the genre.

 

SPRING TIDE, which was honored Best Cinematography at the 22nd SIFF, tells the story of three generations of women living together. Produced by LIAO Qingsong and Shozo ICHIYAMA, written and directed by YANG Lina, and starring HAO Lei and JIN Yanling, the film features a unique cinematographic and aesthetic style, as commented by the Jury for the SIFF Golden Goblet Awards: "The cinematographer’s clever use of light and shadow vividly brings the director\'s ideas to life, immersive and empathetic."

 

 

THE SWING MAKER, a work by Da Xiong, and starring JIANG Shouzhi, SONG Yili, and LIANG Ji, unfolds its story as the honest old oil worker LIU Huanrong meets troubles one after another. The film has captured plenty of real life details, which imprints it with a distinctive mark of the times. Since it was released nationwide on November 10, it has been well received among viewers.

 

 

HAVE YOUR NAME CARVED was produced by director HU Mei and directed and written by young director XU Lei as his first film production. Based on a true story, the movie presents a young couple living in the rural mountains. Facing the terminal illness of their four-year-old son, they have to make a choice...

 

 

“SIFF World Express” is a “Going Global” project started by SIFF in 2015. Utilizing its advantages as one of the 15 international non-specialized competitive film festivals, SIFF carefully selects outstanding movies shortlisted in its competition and panorama programs, recommends them to more international film festivals, and promotes their overseas distribution. Meanwhile, it strongly supports the winning “SIFF projects” to enter the international film market, and facilitates their co-production negotiation and overseas pre-sales. Running for more than four years, the World Express has travelled to a number of countries including Japan, Italy, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom. Along with its journey, it brought more than 40 outstanding Chinese films or projects overseas and organized a total of over 70 screening sessions for them.