China’s Pingyao International Film Festival To Open With ‘Only The River Flows’, Close With World Premiere Of ‘Football On The Roof’

China’s Pingyao International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its seventh edition (October 11-18), which will open with Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows and close with the world premiere of Fei Yu’s Football On The Roof. 

Wei’s 1990s-set noir thriller, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes film festival, is also one of 11 titles competing in Pingyao’s Hidden Dragons competition for emerging Chinese filmmakers. Football On The Roof tells the story of a female soccer team fighting against the odds in the remote mountains of Yunnan province. 

The Hidden Dragons line-up also includes Geng Zihan’s A Song Sung Blue, which premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight, along with world premieres including Hao Feihuan’s Records Without Words, Li Binbin’s The Night Rain South Township and Yang Pingdao’s A Romantic Fragment (see full line-up below). 

Pingyao has also announced the 12 films selected for the Crouching Tigers competition for debut, second and third features from international filmmakers, which includes Cannes Camera d’Or winner Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, directed by Vietnam’s Pham Thien An; Belgium’s Oscars submission Omen, directed by Baloji; Last Shadow At First Light, from Singapore’s Nicole Midori Woodford; Ama Gloria, from France’s Marie Amachoukeli; and In Flames from Pakistan’s Zarrar Kahn.

Nine films have been selected as Galas for the festival including Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped, Cedric Kahn’s The Goldman Case, Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two, Amanda Nell Eu’s Cannes Critics Week winner Tiger Stripes, and the world premiere of Liu Miaomiao’s The Time Of A Flower.

Other sections in the festival include Special Presentation, which will screen Algerian historical drama The Last Queen and Guo Ke’s The Coming Days, along with the Made In Shanxi for new works by filmmakers in the province where the festival is located. 

Founded by leading Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, the festival is held in the ancient walled city of Pingyao, which is close to Jia’s home town Fenyang. Lin Xudong serves as artistic director of the festival with Marco Mueller as chief artistic consultant for the international programme

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