Ten years after his last documentary, “I Wish I Knew” (screened in Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2011), acclaimed Chinese auteur Jia Zhang-Ke (“Ash Is Purest White,” “A Touch of Sin“) returns to non-fiction with “Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue,” the final panel in his trilogy about the arts in China. It follows Venice winners “Dong” (2006) and “Useless” (2007).

Continue reading ‘Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue’ Trailer: Chinese Auteur Jia Zhang-Ke’s Critically-Acclaimed New Doc Arrives In May at The Playlist.

Mining the well-worn tropes of the crusading journalist, Jing Wang’s “The Best is Yet to Come” is an investigatory look at Beijing in the aftermath of the SARS epidemic. Taking place in 2003, the film follows aspiring journalist Han Dong (Bai-Ke), as he hustles his way into an internship at the prestigious Jingcheng Daily and eventually lands on a possible front-page story, before being torn between his loyalty between journalistic ethics and a friend whose future might be jeopardized by Dong’s reporting. 

READ MORE: 2020 Venice Film Festival Preview: All The Must-See Films To Watch

While scattershot in its narrative approach (it takes over an hour before the actual plot clarifies), Jing’s feature debut is an affecting dive into the post-pandemic anxiety that swelled through Beijing, as Dong stumbles upon a bombshell story of Hepatitis B patients paying for forged medical records in order to land jobs in a society that fears any type of illness and requires complete medical disclosure for job applications.

Continue reading ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ Is A Messy, But Affecting Look At Post-Pandemic Journalism [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

The early-2000s was an interesting time in the world of journalism. With the internet becoming more and more ubiquitous by the day, that era saw the beginning of the shift from traditional newspaper/magazine journalism to a younger generation of hungry writers looking to use technology to their advantage. It’s that era of journalism that is highlighted in the upcoming feature, “The Best Is Yet To Come” from Chinese filmmaker Jing Wang.

Continue reading ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’ Trailer: Journalistic Integrity Is At The Center Of This Venice/TIFF Selection at The Playlist.

Earlier today, we covered the announcement of Spike Lee as the Cannes Jury President for the 2020 event. And we’re already bracing ourselves for Sundance, which is right around the corner. Yet, we can’t forget that sandwiched between those events is another festival we love to attend — Berlin Film Festival.

READ MORE: Spike Lee Named Cannes 2020 Jury President- Watch the Announcement Video

Even though the full lineup is expected to be announced later this month, we are already getting a hint at what we can expect at the 2020 Berlinale, as the festival revealed some of its special world premiere screenings and TV series coming to the event.

Continue reading Early Berlin 2020 Announcements Include New Film From Jia Zhang-ke & Series From Damien Chazelle, Cate Blanchett & Jason Segel at The Playlist.

Coming out of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, one of our favorite films was Jia Zhang-ke’s feminist gangster film, “Ash is Purest White.” The film ended up making the film festival rounds all through 2018, and finally, is ready to open in the US for film fans to experience.

READ MORE: ‘Ash is Purest White’ Is Jia Zhang-ke’s Beautiful Feminist Take On The Gangster Film [Cannes Review]

As seen in the trailer for the film, “Ash is Purest White” follows the story of a woman, who happens to be in a relationship with a gangster.

Continue reading ‘Ash Is Purest White’ Trailer: Jia Zhang-ke’s Gangster Epic Was A Cannes Standout & Will Finally Hit US Theaters at The Playlist.

This week IFFR is holding a wide programme of Masterclasses at Le Jardin Hilton in central Rotterdam. We’ll be bringing coverage of cinematic luminaries including Claire Denis, Jia Zhang-ke, and Cliff Martinez, as they recount the defining moments in their careers to date.

Jia Zhang-ke is a filmmaker concerned with time: how it disorientates, deceives, and hollows out the individual. Modernity wreaks irreparable transformations; technology delivers distortions of experience; globalization oppresses consciousness and the self.

Continue reading Acclaimed Filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke Reveals The Cinematic Habits & Experiences That Shape His Work [Rotterdam MasterClass Conversation] at The Playlist.

At first glance, Jia Zhang-ke‘s “Ash is Purest White” feels like an immaculately perfect patchwork film, taking cues from his 2013 masterwork “A Touch of Sin” and his flawed, but brilliant, 2015 epic “Mountains May Depart,” as well as the docu-drama Chinese glimpse of “Still Life.” It’s odd, considering that Zhang-ke is not known for repetition — in fact, the only repetitiveness we keep seeing is the use of his wife and muse Zhao Tao in his movies.

Continue reading ‘Ash is Purest White’ Is Jia Zhang-ke’s Beautiful Feminist Take On The Gangster Film [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.