CROSSCURRENT (长江图) World Cinema

In a daze following his father’s sudden death, cargo ship captain Gao Chun falls under the spell of a mysterious book of poetry found hidden in his ship’s engine room, sending the beleaguered captain on an unexpected journey both up the Yangtze River, the very cradle of Chinese civilization, and into the center of his own troubled soul. Guided by the beautiful, enigmatic An Lu, and carrying a mysterious shipment for a ruthless crime lord, Chun’s pilgrimage to the powerful river’s source becomes a sublime, poetic quest to understand man’s relationship to nature, the impulses of love and desire, greed and corruption, and the very nature of faith itself. Filmed in gorgeous 35mm by Mark Lee Ping-Bing (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), director Yang Chao’s film melds elements of the classic road movie with a singular aesthetic rooted in ancient Buddhist practice. Featuring an unforgettable sequence in the Three Gorges Dam, CROSSCURRENT is a transcendent voyage into the possibilities of the metaphysical and the realities of flesh and blood. — Cedar Sherbert

Yang Chao graduated with a degree in direction from the Beijing Film Academy in 1997. His short film RUN AWAY (2002) was part of the Cinéfondation student film program at the Cannes Film Festival. His feature debut, PASSAGES (2004), played in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. CROSSCURRENT won the Silver Bear for cinematography at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Cheng Cheng Films LLC

Details

Country: China

Year: 2015

Director: Yang Chao

Screenwriter: Yang Chao

Producers: Wang Yu, Yang Jing, Ha Bo

Executive Producers: Yang Jing, Wang Yu, Shen Peijin, Song Xianqiang, Zhu Kaiying, Jin Yue

Director of Photography: Mark Lee Ping-Bing

Editors: Yang Mingming, Kong Jinlei

Production Designer: Zhao Ye

Music: An Wei

Cast/Featuring: Qin Hao, Xin ZhiLei, Wu Lipeng, Wang Hongwei, Jiang Hualin, Tan Kai

Running Time (minutes): 116 min

Language: Mandarin

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