Competition
Rizi (Days)
Taiwan, China
by Tsai Ming-Liang
with Lee Kang-Sheng, Anong Houngheuangsy
World premiere
“Days” has only two characters, Tsai’s decades-long workmate Lee Kang-sheng and Thai actor Anong Houngheuangsy.
Berlinale Special
Yi Zhi You Dao Hai Shui Bian Lan (Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue)
People’s Republic of China
by Jia Zhang-ke
World premiere / Documentary form
Prominent Chinese writers and scholars gather in a village in Shanxi, a province of China and the hometown of Jia Zhang-Ke. This starts an 18-chapter symphony about Chinese society since 1949. Narrated by three important novelists born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s respectively, telling their own stories with literature and reality, the film weaves a 70-year spiritual history of the Chinese people.
Panorama
Suk Suk
Hong Kong, China
by Ray Yeung
with Tai Bo, Ben Yuen, Patra Au Ga Man, Lo Chun Yip, Lam Yiu Sing
A chance encounter brings Pak and Hoi together in Hong Kong. Both are grandfathers and both have lived married lives, providing for their families. A passionate and delicate film about love later in life.
Generation
Qiu shi (Harvest)
People’s Republic of China
by Sun Lijun
World premiere / Animation / Short film
An animation illustrated by the renowned Chinese water-colour artist Sun Lijun, in which a small grasshopper hunts for the season’s most sought-after fruits. His dramatic escape from a large predator leads him unexpectedly to the object of desire: the pomegranate.
Forum & Forum Expanded
Ping jing (The Calming)
China
by SONG Fang
World premiere
A new film produced by Jia Zhangke, which is told the story of a female director who wandered around the world alone after breaking up with her boyfriend.