News

Director Lou Ye has sparked the ire of the Chinese government for capturing niche stories onscreen; perhaps the biggest backlash came from his docu-fiction feature “An Unfinished Film.”

The aptly-titled film follows a director as he tries to resume shooting of a film he had abandoned 10 years earlier. The only catch? The filmmaker Xiaorui is trying to go into production in Wuhan, China during the January 2020 lockdown. It wasn’t a great place to be.

Qin Hao, Qi Xi, Huang Xuan, Liang Ming, and Zhang Songwen also star.

“Suzhou River” and “Summer Palace” director Lou helms the feature that blends fact with a fictional narrative. The real footage uses images that were banned or blocked by the government, creating a hybrid docudrama that captured the early days of the Chinese lockdown. Lou and Ma Yingli cowrote the script.

The official synopsis reads: “Set in January 2020, the film follows director Xiaorui...

A new film festival titled Chinese Cinema Today is set to launch in Japan, featuring 15 Chinese films including four Japanese premieres. The program, running Nov. 22-Dec. 12 at Tokyo’s Cinelibre Ikebukuro before moving to Osaka (Dec. 13-26), spotlights both commercial hits and festival favorites from mainland China’s growing film industry.

The festival is structured in four distinct sections. Director in Deep Focus presents a special spotlight on artist and filmmaker Qiu Jiongjiong, screening three of his works: “Madame,” “Mr. Zhang Believes” and “A New Old Play.” This marks the first special screening of Qiu’s works in Japan.

The Chinese Now Hits section features recent commercial successes, including the thriller “Hidden Blade,” directed by Cheng Er and starring Tony Leung and Wang Yibo. The film marks Cheng’s return after a seven-year hiatus. Also featured are “Like a Rolling Stone,” starring Berlin Film Festival best actress winner Yong Mei,...

Following the competent “Wisdom Tooth”, actor-turned-director Liang Ming returns with “Carefree Days” an arthouse film that premiered at the 71st San Sebastian, before having a decent festival run including a number of awards, mostly from Chinese competitions.

Carefree Days screened at Mulan International Film Festival

Xu Linging is a 25-year-old whose life is in shambles. Her parents are in the midst of a bad divorce, always fighting in her house, and her efforts to make a living at the decaying city of Shenyang are not exactly successful, with her just having a number of menial jobs, mostly revolving around various aspects of entertainment. One day at a club where she works, she collapses and has to be moved to the hospital, where she finds out she suffers from uremia.

As her life begins to crumble even more, her mother dies, and her distant father comes back to take care of her,...

The inaugural Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam has unveiled its line-up of about 100 films, including 12 each for the Southeast Asia competition and for the first or second film competition, with directors Anne Fontaine and Hirokazu Kore-eda among its guests.

Scroll down for line-up

The Asian premiere of French biopic Bolero will open the festival on April 6. Director Fontaine and leading actor Raphaël Personnaz will be present for the film’s Asian premiere, which will take place at the city’s historic Opera House.

Further notable festival guests include acclaimed Japanese director Kore-eda who will receive...

The fourth edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (Iffam), which opened last night (December 5) at the Macao Cultural Center, is positioned as one of the key events celebrating the 20th anniversary of the handover of the former Portuguese colony to the People’s Republic of China.

Five Macanese features are among the highlights of this year’s selection of 50 films, said Mike Goodridge, Iffam artistic director. “It’s more than we ever played before,” he said earlier during the announcement of the programme.

The special presentations includes “Ina and the Blue Tiger Sauna,” a thriller set after the 2008 financial crisis, journeying through the mysterious underworld of Macao Antonio Caetano de Faria and Bernardo Rao; musical drama “Let’s Sing” by Keo Lou; Chen Shangshi’s “Patio of Illusion,” a drama that pays homage to the rich heritage of the city of Macau; “Strings of Sorrow,” a drama that...

★★★★☆In recent years, filmmaker Zhao Dayong has garnered a reputation for being one of China's most outspoken dissident voices. Zhao's preoccupation with exploring the dark heart of China's global image has situated him as a key player in its recent independent documentary movement. Shadow Days (2014) is Zhao's second fictional feature and continues his study of the country's difficult relationship with its past. A wide aerial shot reveals the beauty of the Chinese countryside. It's an image to be savoured, as the exquisiteness of this rural idyll will soon be forgotten as we descend into Liang Renwei's (Liang Ming) hometown.

A majority of people in China are concerned over certain TV programmes that could negatively affect or mislead teenagers, says a survey.The online survey . conducted among 1,210 people by the China Youth Daily Social Investigation Center . showed that 60 percent of the participants believed that TV dramas have negative effects on teenagers.Only four percent of respondents said the dramas had positive effects, China Daily reported.Song Jun, a senior middle school student in eastern Jiangsu province, said she has many classmates who were addicted to TV dramas..Some of my female classmates dream every day of marrying a guy as handsome as the TV stars and dressing like the girls in the dramas,. Song said.She said some of them have even developed eating disorders in hopes of achieving extreme weight loss.The survey found that respondents believed that puppy love, material worship and unrealistic fantasies were the three worst effects,...