Critics’ Week
A Girl Unknown | 无名女孩
Dir. Zou Jing
A Girl Unknown returns to Cannes for its global premiere after its script won the Critics’ Week Next Step Prize in 2024. A Chinese-French co-production, it is Zou’s newest work after her short Lili Alone《朵丽》screened at Critics’ Week 2021.
A Girl Unknown depicts a young Chinese woman from the age of six through to her thirties, living in three different families. It tells the story of entire generations of abandoned girls in China from the 80s to the 2000s … an intimate coming-of-age story that explores existential pain, self-discovery, and how one learns to love.
—Semaine de la Critique, Cannes
La Cinef
The 29th edition of La Cinef showcases work from film schools around the world, selecting less than twenty short films from 2,750 submissions this year.
Our Secrets | 天天的秘密
Dir. Lenti Liang
A new work by Chinese-born filmmaker Lenti Liang, submitted through the USC School of Cinematic Arts, USA.
In early spring in Guangzhou, Tian Tian, a teenage girl, begins to sense a quiet awakening of desire. What follows drifts away from what she had imagined.
—Festival de Cannes
Will it Rain Again Today | まだ雨降るかな｜今天还会下雨吧
Dir. Lenti Liang
Guangxi-born filmmaker Wong Chau-hong’s second work after his 2022 short, Day In, Day Out《这个下午很无聊》, featuring music from Hong Kong indie group My Little Airport. Submitted through the Nihon University College of Art, Japan.
After a routine document check in a factory on Tokyo’s outskirts, a young Chinese man tries to help Leyla, a Turkish girl. His efforts fail, but a quiet bond begins to form between them.
—Festival de Cannes
Cannes Classics
Torino Shadow | 都灵之影 (Special Screening)
Dir. Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke’s newest short film makes its global premiere in the Special Screening section of Cannes Classics. Starring longtime collaborator Zhao Tao, both Jia and Zhao will attend the screening.
A woman travels from southern China to Turin in northern Italy, to see her husband. But an unexpected departure leaves her to find herself again – and to find cinema.
—Festival de Cannes
Farewell My Concubine (1993) | 霸王別姬 (Restoration)
Dir. Chen Kaige
The first Chinese-language film to win the Palme D’Or in 1993, Farewell My Concubine returns to the festival this year with a full 4K restoration and lead actress Gong Li in attendance.
A sweeping epic that intertwines beauty and violence, Farewell My Concubine explores the profound bond between two great actors of the Peking Opera against the backdrop of tumultuous 20th-century Chinese history.
—Cannes Classics
The Dull-Ice Flower (1989) | 魯冰花 (Restoration)
Dir. Yang Li-kuo
Voted the most-loved Taiwanese feature in a 2023 poll conducted by the Taiwanese Film and Audiovisual Institute, The Dull-Ice Flower returns with a digitally restored print. Adapted from Chung Chao-cheng’s original novel by Taiwanese screenwriting giant Wu Nien-jen.
As dull-ice flowers come into bloom, art teacher Kuo Yun-tien arrives to teach in a rural village. He discovers Ku A-ming, a mischievous boy gifted with a vivid imagination and a natural talent for painting.
—Festival de Cannes
Cannes Immersive Competition
Playing with Fire: Yuja Wang
Dir. Pierre-Alain Giraud
This virtual reality installation presents a recital by renowned pianist Yuja Wang, performing Stravinsky, Liszt, and Debussy. A UK-France-Taiwan collaboration with director Pierre-Alain Giraud, Icelandic artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, and French sound designer Nicolas Becker.
A multisensory mixed reality concert, combining 360° video and spatial audio with a precise acoustic recreation of Yuja’s playing on a Steinway Spirio piano; her inner thoughts as running commentary; and dazzling animations, all experienced via a cutting-edge HTC VIVE Focus Vision headset.
—Philharmonie de Paris
