BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA European Union Films From Cannes

One of Europe’s leading directors tells a story as fragile and transparent as the light of Hong Kong made of silences, expectations and sorrow. An old freighter belonging to a company that has gone out of business drops anchor off Hong Kong. The crew aboard has to wait a week or month to get paid. Among the sailors is Nikos, a radio operator, man of few words, weary of life, an introvert and opium addict. Li, a little Chinese girl living on the sampans in the bay of Hong Kong persuades him to let her do his cleaning work while the ship is in port. A friendship develops between this lost man and a bright little girl who won’t let herself be defeated, who keeps her innocence in spite of the chaos in her life.