News

Sevendust have announced a Fall 2024 US tour celebrating the 21st anniversary of their 2003 album Seasons. Support on the outing will come from 10 Years, Return to Dust, and Horizon Theory.

Dates kick off September 13th in Hampton Beach, Massachusetts, and run through October 8th in Salt Lake City. The route will hit majors cities such as New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver.

Get Sevendust Tickets Here

A Live Nation ticket pre-sale for select dates begins Wednesday (May 22nd) at 10 a.m. local time using the code Soundcheck. General ticket sales start Thursday (May 23rd) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. Fans can also look for deals or get tickets to sold-out dates via StubHub, where your purchase is 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s Fan Protect program.

In addition to the upcoming headlining tour, Sevendust also have numerous festival dates on the books, most notably appearances at Inkcarceration in Mansfield, Ohio...

After record-breaking attendance of over 170,000 music fans over four days in 2023, Welcome To Rockville returns to Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida to kick off the festival season bigger and better than ever May 9-12, 2024. Festival producer Danny Wimmer Presents is excited to announce the addition of a 5th music stage and 50 additional bands, bringing the total music lineup to an impressive 150 bands for Welcome To Rockville 2024.

The initial music lineup for the 13th year of Welcome To Rockville is the festival’s most powerful collection of artists yet and features an array of talent not-to-be-missed including Foo Fighters, Mötley Crüe, Slipknot, Jelly Roll, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit, Queens of the Stone Age, Judas Priest, Greta Van Fleet, Evanescence, Falling In Reverse, A Day To Remember, Breaking Benjamin, Bad Omens, The Offspring, Mudvayne, Koe Wetzel, Stone Temple Pilots, Primus, Cypress Hill, Sum 41, a rare appearance by Mr. Bungle, and many others.

by Cláudio Alves

Barbie this, Oppenheimer that, the Barbenheimer double feature wasn't the only title worth watching to arrive in theaters last week. Indeed, one of 2022's most controversial titles finally enjoyed its American release well over a year after it competed at the Berlinale and incurred the wrath of the Chinese government. Ruijun Li's Return to Dust deserves the attention of every cinephile, both because one shouldn't bow to the pressures of censorship but also because it's a remarkable bit of social realist filmmaking. Its ability to touch on hard truths made it an unlikely box office success before all that attention ruffled some feathers…...

Return To Dust, an arthouse hit in China last summer before being pulled from release, opens Stateside this weekend with Film Movement presenting on two screens – NYC’s Bam Rose Cinema and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, expanding to LA and Seattle next Friday.

The distributor acquired the film directed by Li Ruijun after it premiered in Berlin in March, 2022 to glowing reviews, see Deadlines’s here. Hai Quing and Wu Renlin star as a middle-aged couple in a rural province encouraged to marry by their families, who see them as a burden. Love and respect slowly as they scratch out a living of extreme hardship working the land. A 95% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

First released last July in China, it played unusually well for an arthouse title there and appeared on streaming platforms in early September before disappearing later that month without explanation.

Regulators don’t...

The Good Earth: Ruijun Crafts Poignant Portrait of Transformative Love

Director Li Ruijun returns to familiar themes in his sixth feature, Return to Dust, a touching odyssey concerning two woebegone people cultivating a relationship with each other and the land, once again taking place in his native hometown of Gaotai in the northern province of Gansu. A showcase for his regular collaborator Wu Renlin (who previously starred in Ruijun’s The Old Donkey and Fly with the Crane), it’s also a transformative role for celebrated actor Hai Quing. Together they anchor the film’s cathartic energies despite significant trauma and despair, and a tendency for the film’s metaphors sometimes feeling unduly pronounced.…...

In the realm of Chinese independent cinema, the weight of influence can be felt as heavily as the often capricious and inscrutable government censorship system. Unique among the most significant new waves across the cinematic world, mainland China possesses both a definable new wave in the form of the vaunted Fifth Generation, whose luminaries included Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, and an equally clear countermovement in the form of the Sixth Generation, which comprised Jia Zhang-ke and Wang Xiaoshuai, among others.

Broadly speaking, the Sixth Generation filmmakers responded to the Fifth Generation’s fondness for florid aesthetic style, period pieces, and melodramatic narratives by embracing more rough-hewn, neorealist productions shot on the fly in contemporary China. While Chinese cinema has perhaps not reached the same level of (relatively) mainstream ubiquity as it possessed during the Fifth Generation’s reign in the late 1980s and early ’90s, it’s arguably the...

"The soil rewards us. Whether you're rich or powerful or an ordinary person." Film Movement debuted an official US trailer for this indie film from China titled Return to Dust, from the award-winning filmmaker named Ruijun Li. This originally premiered in early 2022 at the Berlin Film Festival and it toured to other fests including Melbourne, Edinburgh, Toronto, Mill Valley. A tender tale about the transformative nature of love, Return to Dust is an "absorbing, beautifully framed drama" that was already a box office hit in China when it opened last year. Humble, unassuming Ma and timid Cao have been cast off by their families and forced into an arranged marriage. They have to combine their strength and build a home to survive. In the face of much adversity, an unexpected and wholesome bond begins to blossom, as both Ma and Cao, uniting with the Earth's cycles, create a haven for...

One of the finest films to emerge from China in recent memory is finally set to hit North American movie screens. Chinese writer-director Li Ruijun’s lyrical realist drama Return to Dust, which premiered to acclaim at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2022, will begin rolling out in select cities July 21 courtesy of Film Movement.

A moving portrait of China’s disappearing rural way of life, Return to Dust, like much of Li’s work, is a triumph of indie filmmaking. The movie was shot on a shoestring in Gaotai, one of the poorest and most remote parts of China, where the director grew up. Many of those involved in the production were his relatives and other village locals — the male lead, Wu Renlin, is his uncle, a lifelong farmer — lending this social realist elegy a depth of authenticity that would be impossible to fake.

The film follows two middle-aged peasants,...

Li Ruijun’s arthouse hit Return To Dust has been dropped from theatrical release and streaming platforms in China, without any reason being given to the producers or distributors of the film.

The move prompted discussion on Chinese social media as the film was a surprise box office hit, grossing more than 15m (RMB100m), an exceptional result for a specialist film in China, before it disappeared from view.

The film was released on July 8 and played relatively well for an arthouse title, before ironically receiving a 5.3m (RMB36.2m) boost over the September 2-4 weekend when it hit streaming platforms. It disappeared from release on September 26.

China’s film regulators don’t usually give reasons for their decisions to withdraw a title from release. It’s not unusual for a film to be pulled abruptly from screens to make way for newer titles, even if the film is still selling tickets.

Film Movement has acquired North American rights from Wild Bunch International.

Film Movement has acquired North American rights from Wild Bunch International to Wen Shipei’s 2021 Cannes selection Are You Lonesome Tonight?

The story follows a man who believes he has caused a fatal accident and develops an ambiguous relationship with the dead man’s widow, while a police officer investigates the death.

Years later all three people remain tangled in a web of memories and lies, desperately searching for a truth that refuses to be revealed.

Shipei’s feature directorial debut and Camera d’Or nominee played TIFF last...

2021 Cannes Camera d’Or nominee played TIFF last year.

Film Movement has acquired North American rights from Wild Bunch International to Wen Shipei’s 2021 Cannes selection Are You Lonesome Tonight?

The story follows a man who believes he has caused a fatal accident and develops an ambiguous relationship with the dead man’s widow, while a police officer investigates the death.

Years later all three people remain tangled in a web of memories and lies, desperately searching for a truth that refuses to be revealed.

Shipei’s feature directorial debut and Camera d’Or nominee played TIFF last year and...

Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In The Mood For Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” has been named Asian Filmmaker of the Year by the Busan International Film Festival. Leung will collect his award at the festival’s opening ceremony on Oct. 5. 2022.

The festival will open with a screening of “Scent of Wind” by Hagi Mohaghegh. The Iranian director previously won the 2015 New Currents competition in Busan with his second feature “Immortal.”

The festival will close with “A Man,” from Japan’s Ishikawa Kei. The title premiered this week at the Venice film festival in the Orrizonti section.

Busan organizers said that the festival will play a total of 243 films (features and shorts) from 71 countries and territories. These include 89 world premieres and 13 international premieres.

After two years of disruptions the festival will operate largely normally. This includes a red carpet opening ceremony,...

Art-house title “Return to Dust” was a surprise weekend winner, topping the mainland China box office in its ninth weekend of release.

The astonishing feat occurred on an otherwise depressed weekend in which China’s cinema box office dipped to a three-month low. This reflected the summer season winding to an end and anti-covid measures once again forcing major Chinese cities into retreat.

Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed “Return” grossing 5.3 million (RMB36.2 million) between Friday and Sunday. Those three days accounted for nearly half of the 12.7 million (RMB87.4 million) cumulative total it has earned since release on July 8, 2022.

Directed by Li Ruijun, the film tells the tale of two middle-aged adults who agree to an arranged marriage in a rural town where state-ordered demolition is under way. It premiered in competition at the Berlin festival in February this year and subsequently played at the Udine and Hong Kong festivals.

Berlinale Competition title “Return to Dust,” written and directed by China’s Li Ruijun, has been sold to Modern Films for U.K. and Ireland, and BTeam Pictures for Spain. The film was previously picked up by several other European distributors. M-Appeal is handling world sales.

Previously reported buyers include Alambique (Portugal), Trigon Film (Switzerland), Ama Films/Stergiakis Brothers (Greece), Arp (France) and September Film (Benelux).

The film centers on humble, unassuming Ma and timid Cao, who have been cast off by their families and forced into an arranged marriage. They have to combine their strength and build a home to survive.

It was described by Variety’s reviewer Jessica Kiang as an “absorbing, beautifully framed drama.” She writes: “As a portrait of the dying end of a traditional way of life and the rapid decimation of China’s outlying rural communities, ‘Return to Dust’ is potent, often poetic in its encroaching-dustbowl imagery.

Online edition showcased 827 films with screenings continuing on catch-up until March 8.

The Berlinale’s European Film Market has just wrapped its second virtual iteration after the rise of the Omicron variant dashed hopes of a return to an in-person edition this year.

EFM figures released on Friday (February 18) suggest professional engagement remained high, with the market maintaining its place as an important date in the international film business calendar.

A total of 600 exhibitors from 62 countries signed up for the EFM’s online platform this year, against 504 from 60 countries in 2021. There were 1,300 market screenings, against 1,452 in 2021, and 827 films were shown against 821 last year.

Li Ruijun’s drama “Return to Dust” was one of the four Asian films that screened in the main competition of the Berlinale, alongside Hong Sang-soo’s “The Novelist’s Film”, Kamila Andini’s period tear-jerker “Nana” and Rithy Panh’s animated documentary “Everything Will Be Ok”. The native of Gaotai turns his gaze yet again to his beloved rural region to depict the lives of two people who find love and hope in an arranged marriage through their families, as two outcasts no one wanted to have on their backs anymore. The film shows them starting from anew a couple of times due to ruthless games of the official landowners and developers with the peasants, but instead of bowing their heads low, they manage to find comfort in each other’s company and in their deep connection to the land they are working.

This is Li’s sixth live action movie,...

Hallelujah has sold to France, Germany and Austria.

UK documentary specialist Dogwoof has reported sales on Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song and River following this year’s European Film Market (EFM).

Venice premiere Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song has sold to The Jokers for France and Prokino for Germany and Austria. As previously announced, the documentary feature was taken for the world by Sony Picture Classics, excluding the aforementioned territories.

The title takes inspiration from the book The Holy Or The Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & The Unlikely Ascent Of Hallelujah by Alan Light. It is...

Chinese Berlinale Competition title “Return to Dust” has been sold to several European distributors with more about to close deals. M-Appeal is handling world sales.

The film, written and directed by Li Ruijun, has gone to Alambique (Portugal), Switzerland (trigon-film) and Greece. Arp previously took rights in France and September Film picked up the film in Benelux. Other European distributors are in negotiations, with deals about to be signed.

The film centers on humble, unassuming Ma and timid Cao, who have been cast off by their families and forced into an arranged marriage. They have to combine their strength and build a home to survive.

“In the face of much adversity, an unexpected bond begins to blossom, as both Ma and Cao, uniting with Earth’s cycles, create a haven for themselves in which they can thrive,” according to a statement.

Li Ruijun has directed five feature films, which tend...

Other EFM acquisitions including ‘Rimini’, ’Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom’, ’Peter Von Kant’ and ’La Syndicaliste’.

Pim Hermeling’s Amsterdam-based September Films, one of Benelux’s leading art house distributors, has been on a buying spree at the EFM.

The company has acquired Li Ruijun’s Berlin competition entry Return To Dust from Berlin-based m-appeal. This follows other EFM acquisitions including Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini from the Coproduction Office; Oscar international feature film nominee Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (from Films Boutique); François Ozon’s Berlinale opening film Peter Von Kant (sold by Playtime) and La Syndicaliste (The...

Bidding war broke out for French rights.

Arp has won a bidding war for the French rights to Chinese director, Li Ruijun’s Berlin competition tiitle Return To Dust from Berlin-based m-appeal.

Return To Dust is about two vulnerable characters in rural China pushed into an arranged marriage.

M-Appeal CEO Maren Kroymann said it went witht Arp because of its expertise with Chinese films.“[Arp] is a great French distributor with a really important market position and a real passion for cinema. They can make auteur films exist on the market and become big.”

Kroymann said M-Appeal has also received “offers from diverse territories…...

Brisk business around US packages and a raft of deals on festival titles signal green shoots of recovery.

Sony’s $60m acquisition of Tom Hanks comedy A Man Called Otto delivered a shot of adrenalin into the first days of the EFM market and was swiftly followed by some eye-catching deals on the early festival titles.

Golden Bear contender Fire has sold to 30 territories for Anton and Wild Bunch International (Wbi) and further competition films Rimini (Coproduction Office) and Return To Dust (m-appeal) as well as Berlinale Special Gala titles Call Jane (Protagonist) and Dark Glasses (Wbi) have also posted sales.

A later-life love story of the gentlest kind, Li Ruijun’s “Return to Dust” is an absorbing, beautifully framed drama that makes a virtue — possibly too much a virtue — of simplicity. The story is straightforward: Two lonely middle-aged people, each barely tolerated by their more worldly family members, are pushed into an arranged marriage, which quietly blossoms into a companionable love match. The lead characters are simple, or are believed to be by their scornful neighbors, as they pursue a punishingly traditional farming lifestyle with only a long-suffering donkey to lighten the backbreaking load. Crops grow, seasons turn and anything too biting or topical or politically charged, the film simply avoids.

Li’s sixth feature unfolds in a small village in Gaotai (the director’s home region), which is being whittled away as its inhabitants move to the cities for work. The towering sand dunes nearby provide an evocatively dusty...

A tender love story set in rural China, Li Ruijun’s Return To Dust is a wonderfully atmospheric entry to the Berlin Film Festival competition. It opens with the arrangement of a marriage between Ma Youtie (Wu Renlin) and Cao Guiying (Hai Qing), by two families who are patently keen to get rid of them both.

Cao is a quiet, unassuming man whose simple rural life is in contrast with that of his flashier relatives, who drive expensive cars and spend time in the city. Ma is a timid woman who is considered a burden on her family, partly because she is unable to control her bladder and is unable to have children.

She has been mistreated and abused, at one point revealing that she was treated worse than the donkey Cao is tending to when they first meet. Ma rarely speaks, silently joining Cao in his humble home. On their first night,...

Only a few months ago, hundreds of Asian film executives were expecting to attend this week’s Berlin festival and the European Film Market. For many, it would have been their first participation in a top-tier overseas festival for nearly two years.

But the Omicron variant has upended those dreams. And, except for those folks with a film playing in the festival, most have stayed at home. Again.

That amplifies a trend of diminished Asian participation that was noticeable at both Cannes and Venice in 2021, though was less pronounced at Locarno.

And Asia’s own top festivals are becoming similarly disconnected from the rest of the world. Shanghai, Busan and Tokyo managed to return to their traditional calendar dates and operated as in-person events, but travel restrictions throughout the region crimped program scale, film selections and rendered their physical components almost entirely local. Tokyo said that there were just 42 international guests on its red carpet.

The 72nd Berlin Film Festival got off to a promising if somewhat subdued start Feb. 10 amid strict restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, which put a major damper on this year’s festivities and kept crowds to a minimum.

While only some 800 guests attended the opening night ceremony at the Berlinale Palast — less than half of the normal capacity of the festival’s grand main venue — the event was nevertheless a hopeful sign for the local film industry and for cinema in general.

The festival was uncompromising in its mask policy for the red carpet, rendering most high-profile guests unrecognizable — although many whipped them off for the phalanx of photographers. But the Berlinale Palast’s famous disco ball spun nonetheless and aside from the Covid of it all, the scene felt very much like old times, both on the red carpet and inside, where a number of local guests...