Exclusive: New York-based arthouse distributor KimStim has acquired all North American rights to Wei Shujun’s Cannes Un Certain Regard title, Only The River Flows. Paris-based MK2 Films is handling international sales on the film.
The Chinese noir thriller has recently been a big hit at the Chinese box office, grossing $43M (RMB309.5M), an exceptional number for an independent film in that market.
Following its Cannes premiere, the film has screened in 33 international film festivals, including London (BFI), Busan, Chicago and Vancouver. It received its China premiere at Pingyo International Film Festival, where it won best film in the festival’s Fei Mu Awards.
Based on Yu Hua’s popular short novel Mistakes By The River, the film is set in a small town in 1990s China where the chief of police is heading an investigation after a woman’s body washes up in the local river.
Zhu Yilong,...
The Chinese noir thriller has recently been a big hit at the Chinese box office, grossing $43M (RMB309.5M), an exceptional number for an independent film in that market.
Following its Cannes premiere, the film has screened in 33 international film festivals, including London (BFI), Busan, Chicago and Vancouver. It received its China premiere at Pingyo International Film Festival, where it won best film in the festival’s Fei Mu Awards.
Based on Yu Hua’s popular short novel Mistakes By The River, the film is set in a small town in 1990s China where the chief of police is heading an investigation after a woman’s body washes up in the local river.
Zhu Yilong,...
- 12/14/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
As we have mentioned in the past, Chinese cinema has a knack of producing crime films that unfold in a distinct art house style, with titles like “Black Coal, Thin Ice”, “Mr Six”, and “Long Day's Journey into the Night” being among the first that come to mind. Cannes-favorite (all four of his movies have screened there) Wei Shujun returned in 2023 in the festival with, “Only the River Flows”, a movie that follows a similar approach.
“Only the River Flows” screened at Cannes Official poster – 76th edition © Photo © Jack Garofalo/Paris Match/Scoop – Création graphique © Hartland Villa
Adapted from the novella “Mistakes by the River” by the famous Chinese novelist Yu Hua, the almost entirely shot on 16mm film takes place in the small city of Banpo in China during the 90s. It is there that police detective Ma Zhe is tasked with finding the culprit of the murder of Granny Four,...
“Only the River Flows” screened at Cannes Official poster – 76th edition © Photo © Jack Garofalo/Paris Match/Scoop – Création graphique © Hartland Villa
Adapted from the novella “Mistakes by the River” by the famous Chinese novelist Yu Hua, the almost entirely shot on 16mm film takes place in the small city of Banpo in China during the 90s. It is there that police detective Ma Zhe is tasked with finding the culprit of the murder of Granny Four,...
- 7/4/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
‘Only The River Flows’ Review: A Witty, Convoluted China-Noir That is Less Whodunnit Than Whodidntit
Imagine the gleaming surfaces of Park Chan-wook’s terrific “Decision to Leave” stripped of romance, all scuzzed-up and grimy. Imagine drilling down through Diao Yinan’s Berlin-winning “Black Coal, Thin Ice” and finding unexpected seams of absurdist dark comedy. You are now somewhere in the seamy offbeat world of “Only the River Flows,” director Wei Shujun’s inventive riff on Asian-noir that gives the expanding subgenre something its Chinese contributions often lack: a pitch-black sense of humor.
Wei has been laying claim to the title of laid-back joker in China’s new-gen pack since debuting with affable slacker comedy “Striding into the Wind” in 2020 (a selection in 2020’s canceled Cannes festival) and following it up with autoreflexive filmmaking satire “Ripples of Life.” Now he brings his wry sensibilities to bear on this murdery mindbender, which he adapts, with a healthy disdain for boring stuff like “linear plotting” and “resolution,” alongside Kang Chunlei,...
Wei has been laying claim to the title of laid-back joker in China’s new-gen pack since debuting with affable slacker comedy “Striding into the Wind” in 2020 (a selection in 2020’s canceled Cannes festival) and following it up with autoreflexive filmmaking satire “Ripples of Life.” Now he brings his wry sensibilities to bear on this murdery mindbender, which he adapts, with a healthy disdain for boring stuff like “linear plotting” and “resolution,” alongside Kang Chunlei,...
- 5/25/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Chinese director Wei Shujun has just premiered his third film, neo-noir thriller Only The River Flows, in Cannes Un Certain Regard to positive reviews.
While he’s now had three features selected for the festival, this is the first time he’s been able to walk the red carpet in person, at least with a full-length film.
His debut, semi-autobiographical drama Striding Into The Wind, was selected in 2020, the year that Cannes didn’t take place but still presented an Official Selection. His sophomore work, Ripples Of Life, premiered in Directors Fortnight in 2021, but he was unable to fly to Cannes due to Covid travel restrictions.
However, he’s been to Cannes in person before, with his 2018 short film On the Border, which won a Special Jury Award. He says that watching the Dardenne Brothers’ Palme d’Or winner Rosetta in 2016 (a few decades after it was made in 1999) was...
While he’s now had three features selected for the festival, this is the first time he’s been able to walk the red carpet in person, at least with a full-length film.
His debut, semi-autobiographical drama Striding Into The Wind, was selected in 2020, the year that Cannes didn’t take place but still presented an Official Selection. His sophomore work, Ripples Of Life, premiered in Directors Fortnight in 2021, but he was unable to fly to Cannes due to Covid travel restrictions.
However, he’s been to Cannes in person before, with his 2018 short film On the Border, which won a Special Jury Award. He says that watching the Dardenne Brothers’ Palme d’Or winner Rosetta in 2016 (a few decades after it was made in 1999) was...
- 5/23/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
"Fate is all the truth we cannot see." Cinetic Marketing has unveiled a festival teaser trailer for the Chinese indie thriller titled Only the River Flows, the latest creation from a filmmaker named Wei Shujun (also of Striding Into the Wind and Ripples of Life before). This is premiering next week at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. A police chief investigates a series of murders in a riverside town in rural China in the 1990s. An arrest is made quickly, though mysterious clues push the policeman to dive deeper into the hidden behavior of the locals. All the synopsis end there, without giving any more hints as to what's going on. The film stars Zhu Yilong, Chloe Maayan, Hou Tianlai, and Tong Linkai. This is a very mysterious trailer with a number of fly-by shots at the end showing how this is much more expansive...
- 5/10/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
“Moneyboys,” the China-set first feature from up-and-coming helmer C.B. Yi, dropped its first trailer Wednesday. It will play at Cannes as an official selection in the Un Certain Regard section. (Watch the exclusive trailer above.)
Chinese-Austrian director, screenwriter and producer C.B. Yi immigrated to Austria at age 13 and went on to study at the Vienna Film Academy under the guidance of Michael Haneke and Christian Berger.
“Moneyboys” depicts the culture clash between China’s urban metropolises and rural villages as seen through the eyes of a young hustler named Fei. He finds works in the city as a moneyboy, but is devastated when he realizes that his family accepts his money but not his homosexuality, leading him to struggle to build up a new life.
“Moneyboys may deal with a very specific situation — the migration of a young man from rural China — but for me it is a...
Chinese-Austrian director, screenwriter and producer C.B. Yi immigrated to Austria at age 13 and went on to study at the Vienna Film Academy under the guidance of Michael Haneke and Christian Berger.
“Moneyboys” depicts the culture clash between China’s urban metropolises and rural villages as seen through the eyes of a young hustler named Fei. He finds works in the city as a moneyboy, but is devastated when he realizes that his family accepts his money but not his homosexuality, leading him to struggle to build up a new life.
“Moneyboys may deal with a very specific situation — the migration of a young man from rural China — but for me it is a...
- 6/23/2021
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Belgium director Olivier Meys chooses a tale of social realism for his feature debut “Bitter Flowers”, 9 years after the documentary “A Disappearance Foretold” and the short film “Première nuit à Beijing”. Co-written with Maarten Loix, “Bitter Flowers” is an independent Belgium-Switzerland-France-China co-production exposing the very real phenomenon – which has been increasing exponentially since the early 2000s – of Chinese women being lured into fake promises of easy earning in European countries.
“Bitter Flowers” is screening at CineCina iFest
The story is narrated from the perspective of a mid-thirty woman and starts in Yeling, in the cold province of Dongbei, North East China. Lina (Qi Xi) and her little family, an affectionate husband and a son, live modestly in an urban apartment. Their life is not unpleasant, but it could be better; more money would allow them to start a little business and provide a better future for their son. This mirage...
“Bitter Flowers” is screening at CineCina iFest
The story is narrated from the perspective of a mid-thirty woman and starts in Yeling, in the cold province of Dongbei, North East China. Lina (Qi Xi) and her little family, an affectionate husband and a son, live modestly in an urban apartment. Their life is not unpleasant, but it could be better; more money would allow them to start a little business and provide a better future for their son. This mirage...
- 7/28/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Belgium director Olivier Meys chooses a tale of social realism for his feature debut “Bitter Flowers”, 9 years after the documentary “A Disappearance Foretold” and the short film “Première nuit à Beijing”. Co-written with Maarten Loix, “Bitter Flowers” is an independent Belgium-Switzerland-France-China co-production exposing the very real phenomenon – which has been increasing exponentially since the early 2000s – of Chinese women being lured into fake promises of easy earning in European countries.
“Bitter Flowers” is screening at CineCina iFest
The story is narrated from the perspective of a mid-thirty woman and starts in Yeling, in the cold province of Dongbei, North East China. Lina (Qi Xi) and her little family, an affectionate husband and a son, live modestly in an urban apartment. Their life is not unpleasant, but it could be better; more money would allow them to start a little business and provide a better future for their son. This mirage...
“Bitter Flowers” is screening at CineCina iFest
The story is narrated from the perspective of a mid-thirty woman and starts in Yeling, in the cold province of Dongbei, North East China. Lina (Qi Xi) and her little family, an affectionate husband and a son, live modestly in an urban apartment. Their life is not unpleasant, but it could be better; more money would allow them to start a little business and provide a better future for their son. This mirage...
- 7/28/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
The 2019 nominees for the Best Asian Film award, presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta), have been revealed, with nine titles up for the prize including Bong Joon-Ho’s Cannes winner Parasite.
Also on the list are three Indian features: Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, which is India’s submission to the 2020 International Feature Film Oscar race, Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe, and Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun.
Joining them are three nominees from China: Jiao Zi’s Ne Zha, the country’s Oscar entry this year, Zhang Yimou’s Shadow, and Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth.
Completing the list are Cathy Garcia-Molina’s Hello Love Goodbye (Philippines) and Makoto Nagahisa’s We Are Little Zombies (Japan).
Parasite scooped Cannes’ Palme d’Or back in May and has been causing box office waves around the globe, grossing more than $100m to date, including $70m in its...
Also on the list are three Indian features: Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, which is India’s submission to the 2020 International Feature Film Oscar race, Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe, and Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun.
Joining them are three nominees from China: Jiao Zi’s Ne Zha, the country’s Oscar entry this year, Zhang Yimou’s Shadow, and Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth.
Completing the list are Cathy Garcia-Molina’s Hello Love Goodbye (Philippines) and Makoto Nagahisa’s We Are Little Zombies (Japan).
Parasite scooped Cannes’ Palme d’Or back in May and has been causing box office waves around the globe, grossing more than $100m to date, including $70m in its...
- 10/15/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Three Indian and three mainland Chinese films are among the nine feature movies shortlisted for the Best Asian Film Award by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.
The Indian selections are box office hit “Andhadhun,” “Super Deluxe, and “Gully Boy,” which premiered in February at the Berlin festival. The Chinese trio includes “Shadow,” sci-fi hit “The Wandering Earth,” and “Ne Zha,” an animation sensation that was named as China’s Oscars hopeful.
The other three are: Philippines box office record breaker “Hello Love Goodbye”; Japan’s “We Are Little Zombies,” and “Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner and South Korea’s Oscar contender.
“Over the past year, the global reach of Asian film has continued to grow with an increasing number of high-quality, creative storylines being recognised at international film festivals and at the local and international box office,” said Aacta.
Judging the entries will...
The Indian selections are box office hit “Andhadhun,” “Super Deluxe, and “Gully Boy,” which premiered in February at the Berlin festival. The Chinese trio includes “Shadow,” sci-fi hit “The Wandering Earth,” and “Ne Zha,” an animation sensation that was named as China’s Oscars hopeful.
The other three are: Philippines box office record breaker “Hello Love Goodbye”; Japan’s “We Are Little Zombies,” and “Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner and South Korea’s Oscar contender.
“Over the past year, the global reach of Asian film has continued to grow with an increasing number of high-quality, creative storylines being recognised at international film festivals and at the local and international box office,” said Aacta.
Judging the entries will...
- 10/15/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
‘We Are Little Zombies’.
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) has revealed the nine films that will compete for this year’s Best Asian Film Award.
This is the third year Aacta has presented the award, which forms the foundation for the organisation’s Asia International Engagement Program. The award is designed to honour the finest films of the past year from 19 Asian regions, reflecting the popularity and importance of Asian films in Australia.
The nominees are: Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun (India); Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy (India); Cathy Garcia-Molina’s Hello Love Goodbye (Philippines); Jiao Zi’s Ne Zha (China); Bong Joon-Ho’s Palme D’Or winning Parasite (South Korea); Zhang Yimou’s Shadow (China); Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe (India); Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth (China) and Makoto Nagahisa’s We Are Little Zombies (Japan).
The long list of films in competition was reviewed...
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) has revealed the nine films that will compete for this year’s Best Asian Film Award.
This is the third year Aacta has presented the award, which forms the foundation for the organisation’s Asia International Engagement Program. The award is designed to honour the finest films of the past year from 19 Asian regions, reflecting the popularity and importance of Asian films in Australia.
The nominees are: Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun (India); Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy (India); Cathy Garcia-Molina’s Hello Love Goodbye (Philippines); Jiao Zi’s Ne Zha (China); Bong Joon-Ho’s Palme D’Or winning Parasite (South Korea); Zhang Yimou’s Shadow (China); Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe (India); Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth (China) and Makoto Nagahisa’s We Are Little Zombies (Japan).
The long list of films in competition was reviewed...
- 10/14/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.