The Pingyao Film Festival commences its “year zero”
by Marta Bałaga
- The Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its inaugural edition, including a vast selection of European titles
At the press conference held at the CHAO Arts Center, founder Jia Zhang-ke – an acclaimed filmmaker known for Still Life, A Touch of Sin and Mountains May Depart [+see also:
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film profile] – introduced the slogan of the inaugural Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival (PYIFF) as “Pingyao Year Zero” – possibly referencing the 1948 film by Roberto Rossellini. “This is the first year of our film festival, but we are more inclined to say it’s our year zero,” he observed. “The PYIFF is still very green, not mature enough. It will be a trial-and-error process for us, but at least we have taken the first step.”
Named after Ang Lee’s iconic wuxia epic and with the help of a former Venice and Rome festival head, Marco Müller, this time serving as artistic director, the Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival has two advisory boards with esteemed members of the likes of directors Aleksandr Sokurov, Feng Xiaogang, Johnnie To, Walter Salles, James Schamus and Alexander Rodnyansky, as well as Roger Garcia, Olivier Père, Anurag Kashyap and producer Tony Cao. Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing was recently named the festival ambassador. “I am very honoured to be the ambassador of this inaugural edition. I believe that the PYIFF will be a festival for both filmmakers and audiences,” she said.
Apart from new films from the likes of Takeshi Kitano (whose Outrage Coda will be his first title ever officially screened in China) and Ma Liwen, the Chinese audience will be able to see numerous European movies, such as Bloody Milk [+see also:
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interview: Hubert Charuel
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interview: Pedro Pinho
film profile] by Pedro Pinho, Life Guidance [+see also:
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interview: Ruth Mader
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interview: Marco and Antonio Manetti
film profile] by Antonio and Marco Manetti, Summer 1993 [+see also:
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interview: Carla Simón
film profile] by Carla Simón, Ismael’s Ghosts [+see also:
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Q&A: Arnaud Desplechin
film profile] by Arnaud Desplechin, recent Palme d’Or winner The Square [+see also:
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interview: Ruben Östlund
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In another surprising nod to Europe, the festival will also pay homage to Jean-Pierre Melville. A collaboration between the festival and the Cultural Department of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with support from the Consulate General of France in China and the Institut français, the retrospective will include ten films by the legendary filmmaker (including 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown and Bob the Gambler) and two movies by John Woo and Johnnie To – both very much inspired by his work. It will be the first large-scale screening of Melville’s films ever to take place in China.
The Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival will run from 28 October-4 November 2017 in Pingyao, China.
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