“Belt and Road Initiative” Film Tour Exhibition | Anchor Baby and Fish Under the Ice Shortlisted in

Recently, the 19th Dhaka International Film Festival announced its latest list of films, among which Anchor Baby and Fish Under the Ice, selected, sent and recommended by the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), were shortlisted in the “Asian Competition Section”.

Anchor Baby and Fish Under the Ice were once brought to the fore at the SIFF. Anchor Baby was shortlisted for “Asian New Talent Award” last year, and Fish Under the Ice for 2019 SIFF Project.

Anchor Baby is directed and acted by Jing Ran herself, and stars Shang Yuxian, Wang Yanhui and Lin Jingzhe. The film revolves around Shi Lu, a student studying in the U.S., whose father remarries. As Shi Lu cannot join her father’s new family, she and her father gradually become alienated. One day, her father suddenly brings her half-brother to the U.S. for treatment. Then the relationship between the three people has gradually changed.

Still of Anchor Baby

As the maiden feature film of young female director Jing Ran, Anchor Baby appropriately displays the rich inner world of the characters through rich lens languages. The film is scheduled to be screened this year.

The creators of Anchor Baby at the 23rd SIFF

Another film Fish Under the Ice, which happens in an old industrial city in the Northeastern China, tells the story of an old woman suffering from mild depression struggling to fulfill her wish of getting a dip in the staff bath.

Photo of Fish Under the Ice

Director Zhang Li said that the production of Fish Under the Ice is not to present an ethical relationship between a mother and her child, but to imbue the power of hurt into everyday life. The film allows audience to sit quietly to look into themselves from a special perspective, and into the ignored inner world of lonely old people.

Director Zhang Li on the presentation stage of 2019 SIFF Project

The 19th Dhaka International Film Festival will be held from January 16th to 24th, 2021. All the participating films will be screened offline. The theme of the festival is “Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society”.

The 19th Dhaka International Film Festival

Since February, 2019, the Dhaka International Film Festival has been a member of the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance, which has been established for less than three years. So far, more and more outstanding Chinese films have gone global through this platform, spreading Chinese culture and telling Chinese stories worldwide.

The Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance was founded at the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival in 2018, during which the Belt and Road Film Week was also launched. As of June 2020, the Alliance’s membership has increased from 32 member institutions in 29 countries to 50 member institutions in 44 countries. Relying on the platform of the Alliance, the SIFF launches the Belt and Road Film Tour mechanism, extending the Belt and Road film culture exchange and cooperation carried out during the annual film festival to the whole year through film screening, exhibition and presentation.