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.
‘Di jiu tian chang’ (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 — veteran Zhang Yimou and Derek Kwok-cheung Tsang — had to withdraw their Berlinale entries, reportedly due to official disapproval.
Zhang’s ‘Yi miao zhong’ (One Second) is set during the Cultural Revolution, still a highly sensitive subject in China, while Tsang’s ‘Better Days’ deals with delinquent youth.
Wang told reporters in Berlin after a warmly received press preview that he was “shocked” when he heard his colleagues’ films had been pulled. Read more