Emerging Chinese Directors Lead Shanghai Festival’s Asian New Talents Section
variety.comJenny S. Li Six first or second-time directors from China take up the majority of the 11 slots in the Shanghai International Film Festival’s Asian New Talents section.
While family drama is the dominant genre, Variety takes a look what they are serving up: Adapted from the book of the same name, Wang Xinrui’s “Dreaming of Mother and Home” depicts the drama of an adult daughter and her mother who is struggling through the last stages of life. Zeng Zhi, previously a commercials director, puts the focus of his debut feature “Friday, Funfair” on the struggles of a young woman who was abandoned by her husband and is left to take care of her entire family and her sick only daughter. Zhang Xuyu has made a series of short films and documentaries – including 2019 documentary short “Mr.
Darcy,” was selected for the Brussels Independent Film Festival – before turning to fiction. His Shanghai feature, “Fish Bone” focuses on the stressful relationship between an aggressive mother and her rebellious daughter, who is on the threshold of enrolling in college.
Born and raised in Xinjiang, Lu Dan presents “The Absent,” a story that involves a young woman looking for her father, an accordionist who has long disappeared from home.
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