The Asian New Talent Unit, which has been in existence for 21 years, continues to bear fruitful results in supporting new talents, and the new generation of Chinese film creators also demonstrate unique perspectives and vigorous creativity.
"7 Days", starring Zhang Yifan and Jiang Qiming, presented the audience with a love story with a "known ending"; in "Against the Wind", Cheng Liang played "Brother Jingxiu" in "Fang Hua", and Jing Boran and Zhuang Dafei performed passionate and inspirational Chinese youth; "Going to See the Sea", starring Shi Pengyuan, showed the "working youth" of the new generation of migrant workers; the young director in "Cuihu" used the perspective of "family bystander" to outline the emotional rifts between generations in contemporary Chinese families and the potential conflicts between classes; "The Bird Chaser" portrayed the poetic dialogue between man and nature, "Sweet Teahouse Girl" intertwined national customs and youthful dreams, and "Summer Pendant" used a falling object accident to tear open a collective silence; "The Boss Is Something, So I Closed the Store for a Day" showed all kinds of life under absurd comedy.
It has always been committed to discovering new film directors from various Asian countries and regions, supporting new forces in Asian films, promoting exchanges and mutual learning of film culture between Asian countries and regions, and promoting the diverse vitality of Asian films. Among the shortlisted films for this year's Asian Newcomer Unit, 9 works are world premieres.
Green Lake as the Water Flows
Director: BIAN Zhuo
Country/Region of Production: China
World Premiere
Highlights: Late-life romance leads to reconciliation among three generations of families
After the death of his beloved wife, the old man Shuwen felt lonely. Seeing that his children had their own families, he was at a loss for a moment. Hesitantly, he tried to start a new relationship, but was strongly opposed by his daughters. In the process, more complex and detailed conflicts in the family emerged one after another. Shuwen intervened in the mediation and accidentally repaired the family ties that had long been loose, and also regained the meaning, value and position in the family. The first feature film of director Bian Zhuo (real name: Wang Zixuan) outlines the emotional rifts between generations and potential conflicts between classes in contemporary Chinese families from the perspective of "family bystanders". The old actor's restrained and precise performance carefully presents Shuwen's inner transformation from loneliness and confusion after the loss of his wife to his re-taking of family responsibilities, showing the resilience and growth of traditional families in contemporary society. In terms of image and sound design, Bian Zhuo mobilized the cultural elements of Yunnan's ethnic minorities, giving the film a unique regional temperament and poetic aesthetics. The picture is full of warmth and texture, injecting a different charm into this insightful family drama.
BRAND NEW LANDSCAPE
Director: Yuiga Danzuka
Country/Region of Production: Japan
Asian Premiere
Highlights: The city and its people are in turmoil under the tranquil appearance
The father, a landscape designer, left his wife and young children and his family for his career. When he grew up, the younger brother reunited with his father, and his heart was still turbulent, but the older sister was indifferent. The younger brother invited his family to the hotel where they last met, trying to repair the family rift. In his first feature film, the new Japanese director Yuiga Danzuka, born in 1998, seems to tell the story of the breakup and restoration of an ordinary family, but in fact continues the spiritual vein of Japanese films since Yasujiro Ozu, describing and interpreting people, cities and times. In this fresh and sad film, the exquisite lens language shows the director's talent and sensibility. He uses a large number of Shibuya long-range shots, empty shots and indoor shots to show the inner emptiness of individuals and the alienation of interpersonal relationships in the city. In the city of Tokyo, individuals and families are always in the process of demolition and reconstruction. In response, the restrained emotional expression and delicate music embellishment make the film like a flowing poem. The city is changing, and so are parent-child relationships. The director seamlessly integrates the two changes into this story, reflecting on the modernization of cities and people.
GRACE FOR SALE
Director/Director: Gözde Yetişkin/Emre Sert
Country/Region of Production: Türkiye
World Premiere
Highlights: A modern version of the dark allegory of "turning stone into gold"
Meteors fell from the sky to a quiet village in Anatolia, and a simple-minded farmer accidentally picked up the largest meteorite. People said, "No matter how much others pay, Americans will pay ten dollars more per gram," which tempted him to embark on a journey to sell this precious stone at a high price, and he began to lose everything he originally had. Emre Sert and Gozde Yetishkin from Turkey are a creative partner who met in their youth. In this directorial debut, they continue the visual poetry and realism style in the short film, gaze at the daily life of the countryside with delicate lenses, and cleverly outline the depth of human nature with cold colors and natural sound effects. The male lead Cem Yigit Uzumoglu perfectly interprets the alienation process of a simple soul struggling in the vortex of desire with a simple and layered performance. The work combines the rural reality of Turkey with the allegorical texture of black humor, presenting a life driven by desire.
KANTO
Director: Ensar Altay
Country/Region of Production: Türkiye
World Premiere
Highlights: When a housewife is determined to find herself
In Turkey, "Kantor" refers to a dance performance that has been popular since the 1870s, especially women singing humorous and seductive songs on stage in easy-to-understand language. Its rise also means that women have begun to play an important role in new art genres. "Kantor" is the first feature film by documentary director Ensar Altai. He was nominated for the Best Documentary at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival Golden Goblet Award for his work "Death Alone" that discusses contemporary social issues in Japan. "Kantor" continues his topic of modern urban social criticism. Sudi, a 45-year-old housewife who has taken care of her family for many years, is about to enter the workplace again, but is forced to terminate her plan because of the sudden disappearance of her mother-in-law. In this family, three generations of women have complicated feelings for each other, and love is intertwined with resentment and guilt. When the delicate balance between dedication to the family and self-sacrifice is broken, everyone has to face the buried secrets of the family again.
ODDS BEATER
Director: CHENG Liang
Country/Region of Production: China
World Premiere
Highlights: Jing Boran and Zhuang Dafei perform passionate and inspiring Chinese youth
The film tells the story of Cai Wanjin (Jing Boran), a teacher who was frustrated in his career, helping Huang Dengyu (Zhuang Dafei), a student who was not optimistic about everyone, to go through a precious journey that cannot be replicated in the senior year of high school, illuminating each other's lives. Both of them found the meaning of persistence in adversity and went against the wind. Director Cheng Liang focused the camera on "Chinese youth". Those times of fighting for the college entrance examination and their companions in youth built our own youthful memories. In the movie, Jing Boran changed his previous handsome image, and his downcast and persistent performance was refreshing, and his restrained performance was rich in layers; Zhuang Dafei accurately showed the sensitivity and struggle under the stubborn appearance, full of youthful tension; Geng Le, Ni Hongjie, David Jiang and other powerful actors contributed superb performances, bringing the audience the most passionate reversal youth inspirational film this summer.
RIVERSTONE
Director: Lalith Rathnayake
Country/Region of Production: Sri Lanka
World Premiere
Highlights: A road trial where good and evil are reversed
Three Sri Lankan policemen escorted the killer Nantishya to Riverstone Mountain for extrajudicial lynching. The four of them were tacitly aware of this journey to death. On the way, the police were like vultures smelling blood, not letting go of any opportunity to grab benefits and satisfy their selfish desires. But Nantishya's eyes always gazed at the devastated land gently and firmly, which was a love engraved in the depths of his soul. On the deep top of Riverstone Mountain, the faces of law enforcers and perpetrators gradually blurred, and the boundary between justice and violence became increasingly difficult to distinguish. This film inherits the tradition of road movies that carry out social criticism through mobile space, and has achieved innovation in the sharpness of the theme and the power relationship of the characters. It is a different kind of road movie. The film subverts the traditional redemption narrative-there is no reconciliation, epiphany and self-return, only the sound of lynching guns echoing in the valley. The ending that tends to be "unsolvable dilemma" makes it more heavy with realistic criticism.
SEVEN DAYS
Director: QIU Yujie
Country/Region of Production: China
World Premiere
Highlights: Is love with a known ending still worth it?
Chen Choushi falls in love with Wen Qian after meeting her by chance at a dental clinic, but because of his mysterious ability to see the countdown of love, he predicts that this relationship will only last seven days. This film is the directorial debut of Qiu Yujie, who has participated in the screenwriting of "Rabbit Violence" and "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind". The film cuts into real emotions with a fantasy setting, cleverly combining pure love themes, determinism and time anxiety. Chen Choushi, played by Jiang Qiming, is innocent and pure, and his restraint with a sense of fate is moving; Zhang Yifan presents the image of a young woman with a rich heart, mysterious but constant. The chemical reaction between the two and the delicate emotional portrayal make the film have a hint of sadness in the romance, bringing a fresh wind to domestic love films.
DAUGHTER
Director: Pourya Kakavand
Country/Region of Production: Iran
World Premiere
Highlights: A farce of childbearing in a low-desire society
As a country with a very high fertility rate in the past, Iran has faced a low fertility population crisis earlier than its neighbors such as Iraq in the past decade. Although the government has introduced a series of policies to stimulate fertility, under the multiple influences of economic pressure and intergenerational cultural differences, many young Iranians still choose to live a low-desire personal life. Based on this background, Priya Kakavinder, a young Iranian film and drama director, created the film "Daughter" with a distinct stage style. Unable to bear the economic pressure of raising a child, a couple turned to find comfort in their common imagination. They imagined a beloved but non-existent daughter and created an imaginary nuclear family life. As this virtual farce of fertility got out of control, the relationship between the couple also went to an irreversible collapse.
THE LAST SUMMER
Director: SHI Renfei
Country/Region of Production: China
World Premiere
Highlights: A falling object accident breaks the collective silence
With the college entrance examination approaching, top student Li Zhizhi accidentally knocked down a falling object in shock after witnessing her father's "cheating", and accidentally killed a girl playing downstairs. In the face of the approaching college entrance examination, the whole family decided to pretend that nothing happened and lied one after another. Female director Shi Renfei showed profound narrative insight with her first work "Summer Falling", using a seemingly accidental falling object incident as a starting point to reveal the pain points of contemporary family and youth growth. Cui Zhongyu accurately captured the emotional fluctuations of the character in his screen debut, interpreting the process of the protagonist's gradual emotional collapse under tremendous psychological pressure, and vividly portrayed the image of a girl struggling in a moral dilemma. The director used a calm, metaphorical and extremely delicate approach to make the seemingly calm family relationship gradually collapse in the details, reflecting the inner world of countless "Zhizhi" in reality.
VICTORIA
Director: Sivaranjini J
Country/Region of Production: India
International Premiere
Highlights: Indian women’s emotional salon
The film is the first feature film by Indian female director Sivaranjini, telling the story of a young beautician Victoria's one-day experience. This work transforms the small space of a beauty salon into a place where labor and rest, public and private are wonderfully intertwined, where women release their emotions and exchange their thoughts. The camera is like an invisible observer, quietly following the heroine Victoria through the salon, capturing her interactions with various female customers, and constructing a vivid and real group portrait of Indian women. The leading actor Meenakshi Jayan naturally shows the daily behavior of a young beautician, and accurately conveys the character's struggle between family constraints and emotional choices. His restrained and full interpretation injects solid emotional tension into the film.
WATER CAN GO ANYWHERE
Director: FANG Liang
Country/Region of Production: China
World Premiere
Highlights: New actor Shi Pengyuan interprets the working youth
To escape the pain of losing his father, the teenager He San went to a southern factory. In the coldness of the assembly line and the heat of youth, he completed a coming-of-age ceremony about self-discovery. Director Fang Liang's second feature film "Go to the Sea" cleverly interweaves the narrative of individual growth with the era picture of the transformation of the Pearl River Delta manufacturing industry. The film not only faces the survival dilemma of the new generation of migrant workers, but also retains the unique romantic background of youth - when He San finally stops at the coast, the untouchable blue becomes an unknown and poetic metaphor for the survival of contemporary Chinese young people when facing life. Shi Pengyuan, who made his mark with the TV series "The Secret Corner", completely shed the wildness of "Yan Liang" this time, and accurately portrayed a confused teenager who was looking for the meaning of life in mechanical repetition with a very layered performance.
Ye Weiyang WHERE THE NIGHT STANDS STILL
Director: Liryc Dela Cruz
Country/Region of Production: Italy/Philippines
Asian Premiere
Highlights: Filipino maids in Europe under the trauma of immigration
Three Filipino siblings work as domestic workers in Italy. After years of separation, they reunite in a villa inherited by their sister. The pain of the past lingers in their hearts. The three people are hesitant to speak, and resentment, confusion and expectations entangle them. The three siblings hysterically throw love and violence at each other. In his first feature film, the all-round director Lirik plays multiple roles, focusing the camera on the group of Filipino domestic workers in Europe who rarely appear on the screen. They live in other places, and their hearts are still lingering with the pain left by colonial history and immigration issues. The audio-visual language of black and white, light and shadow, and composition is exquisite and beautiful. Everything is horrifying in silence, revealing a truth: when the oppressed unconsciously internalize the methods of the oppressor, it may bring new harm.
(The above is sorted by the first letter of the English title of the film)
