The 72nd Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to be held in Cannes, a southern city in France, from May 14 to May 25, with competition and panorama activities staged concurrently. The In Competition, A Certain Regard and Out of Competition have unveiled the majority of their lineup, successively. Of them, Chinese films are much anticipated.
WILD GOOSE LAKE, directed by Diao Yinan, starring Hu Ge, Gwei Lun-mei, Liao Fan and Wan Qian, becomes the only Chinese film entering Cannes In Competition Section. WILD GOOSE LAKE is another masterpiece of Diao Yinan, after BLACK COAL, THIN ICE, a winner of Golden Bear. The story inspires from a true news about a thief on the run who eventually sacrifices himself to save others. The gamut of emotions: skepticism, betrayal, love, loyalty, conscience and complex emotional temptation, are mixed to offer audiences with a strange visual experience. Diversified role setting attracts a large number of character actors, including Qi Dao, Huang Jue, Zhang Yicong and Chen Yongzhong. Zeng Meihuizi, the winner of Best Actress at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards also has a special presence in the film. Apart from star-studded cast, Shen Yang, a producer of several Chinese masterpieces, such as BLACK COAL, THIN ICE, THE MOMENT OF PLUTO and LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, works with Diao Yinan again as a producer of this film. It’s reported that the cast and crew of WILD GOOSE LAKE will appear in the red carpet of this Cannes Film Festival.
There are two Chinese films out of 16 nominated films to complete for A Certain Regard Section. One is SUMMER OF CHANGSHA, a maiden directorial work of Chinese Mainland actor Zu Feng, narrating a story about love and evil in a case of police investigation. The suspense story makes the film full of mysterious atmosphere. The complexity of human nature, the struggle of desire, and even the unspeakable secret of the characters in the play, all are deeply attracted to film cast and crew. Huang Lu, the leading actress of this film, is a capable young actress in Chinese films and her works were nominated for three largest European international film festivals (i.e. Cannes, Venice and Berlin Film Festivals). The other is NINA WU, the fifth feature film directed by Midi Z from Taiwan, China, starring Wu Ke-Hsi, Vivian Sung and Kimi Hsia and telling a story about a country girl seeking her dream in the city.
Among the nominated works for “International Critics’ Week”, DWELLING IN THE FUCHUN MOUNTAINS, the maiden full-length work of Chinese director Gu Xiaogang, is shortlisted as the closing film of this section. He will also compete for Golden Camera with other nominated maiden works. Taking riverbank of Fuchun River in Hangzhou as the background, the film tells a story of an ordinary three-generation family, showing contemporary Chinese life style and emotional dependence of people. When introducing this film, Artistic Director Charles Tesson, director of this “International Critics’ Week” praised that: It’s the first film in a triptych revolving around three generations of a family. It’s striking for the way in which it blends contemporary China with resonances of bygone China, as captured in its art and poetry.”