China’s FIRST International Film Festival kicks off its 17th edition on Sunday, and as the Sino-industry’s leading arbiter of indie cinema, the event again features a program leaning heavily towards the country’s emerging talent. There are features, documentaries and shorts. Lots and lots of shorts. And even a special section devoted to short-shorts, or smart-phone friendly features that don’t run past the five-minute mark.
Full-length international movies are also front and center — and it’ll be interesting to see whether Malaysian director Jing On’s aching social drama Abang Adik can continue its run in the central Chinese city of Xining, after picking up awards as far afield as Switzerland and Italy — but primarily FIFF is a place where people come to see what Chinese cinema has coming up next.
There are comparisons, of course, to the indie bellwether Sundance and not just because Xining is set some 2,275 meters high. The festival has over its 16 previous editions regularly attracted the nation’s biggest stars, and 2023 is no exception. The main jury is being chaired by Joan Chen, and includes in its number the star-turned-filmmaker Yao Chen, her of more than 80 million followers on China’s Twitter-like Weibo social media platform, while wildly popular singer-turned-actor Jackson Lee will also be casting his eye over films in competition, fresh from his role in the huge box office hit Full River Red.
Overall, there will be 98 films on display across FIFF’s nine days — including 27 features and 71 shorts — and after plowing through the program, The Hollywood Reporter has picked out five full-length local features we think audiences in Xining won’t want to miss.
Art College 1994, directed by Liu Jian
A painter, first, by trade, director Liu Jian has expanded his range into animation as that particular side of the Chinese film industry has emerged over the past 15 years or so. While major animated epics have captured headlines — and audiences — in the country recently, Liu has previously gone for a more gritty aesthetic, particularly with 2017 urban thriller Have a Nice Day, which was in the running for Berlin’s Golden Bear. Here, Liu looks to be setting a more gentle, reflective mood with a story that follows arts students in the early 90s as they adapt to China’s continued reforms, and how these change the society that surrounds them.
Way Out, directed by Sophia Han
Inspired by the stories of women working in China’s desolate Qaidam Basin, director Sophia Han says she wants to “raise awareness in society that women, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, make indelible contributions to the progress of the entire society.” The story revolves around a stranded rally car driver’s call for help that reaches into the past to the tragic case of a group of young girls who became stranded in the desert. Dujuan He — star of the Chinese TV sci-fi hit Three-Body — takes the lead and Han has previously worked as an AD to the likes of Tsui Hark and Zhang Yimou.
The Storm Is Coming, directed by Xiao Hai
Director Xiao Hai took a circuitous route into the film world, studying first with the oil painting department at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in southern China. Then it was into advertising and special effects and, finally, a feature film that focuses its attention on two urban couples whose relationships are tested when their fates are thrown together by kidnappers. The director says it’s all about love — and an exploration of the lengths people might go to when they decide they want to save it.
Bitter Sweet Ballad, directed by Liang Junjian
The festival boasts five feature-length documentaries across its various competitions and director Liang Junjian has previously delved into subjects as varied as the Beijing Olympics and shadow puppetry. Here he looks at the first middle school in Beijing created specifically for the kids of migrant workers — and how the school established a choir to help them adapt to their new surroundings, and to the pressures of growing up. “These children exhibit a gentle yet resilient vitality that reflects the concept of growth,” says Liang.
Trending Topic, directed by Xin Yukun
Acclaimed actress Zhou Dongyu returns fresh from her Cannes appearance in Singaporean director Anthony Chen’s well-received thriller The Breaking Ice in another nail-biter about online media and the far-reaching effects published article can have on the lives of everyday people when one of those stories goes viral. Director Xin Yukun is among the many Chinese filmmakers who have used FIFF as a launching pad for his career — with his debut The Coffin in the Mountain, winning the best feature gong in Xining back in 2014 — and going on to play at the festivals in Venice and Hong Kong, among others.
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