A moving Chinese epic looking at the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, the one-child policy and forced abortion made it past censors to premiere at the Berlin film festival Thursday despite a widening crackdown.
โDi jiu tian changโ (So Long, My Son) by Wang Xiaoshuai, clocking in at more than three hours, is a sweeping allegorical drama about two families whose fates become intricately intertwined across 30 years of dramatic change in their country.
Its world premiere comes just days after two Chinese filmmakers โ veteran Zhang Yimou and Derek Kwok-cheung Tsang โ had to withdraw their Berlinale entries, reportedly due to official disapproval.
Zhangโs โYi miao zhongโ (One Second) is set during the Cultural Revolution, still a highly sensitive subject in China, while Tsangโs โBetter Daysโ deals with delinquent youth.
Wang told reporters in Berlin after a warmly received press preview that he was โshockedโ when he heard his colleaguesโ films had been pulled. Read more