News on April 25, the movie "Mistake by the River" was officially announced to be selected for the "A Kind of Attention" unit of the Cannes Film Festival.
It is reported that this film is adapted from Yu Hua's novel of the same name, directed by post-90s director Wei Shujun, starring Zhu Yilong and Zeng Meihuizi.
Poster for the international edition of "Mistakes by the River"
"The Mistake by the River" tells the story of a paradoxical murder involving multiple suspects, and the criminal police captain Ma Zhe (played by Zhu Yilong) is constantly manipulated by the unspeakable truth, and gradually falls into absurdity, uneasiness and confusion between real and illusory moments and memories... The film is adapted from Yu Hua's pioneering masterpiece of the same name, and the original novel has distinctive characteristics, leaving readers enough space for imagination and interpretation while being very expressive by the author, and this characteristic also continues into the film.
The international version of the poster is inspired by the expressionist painter Munch's work "The Scream", using it as a conceptual prototype, using blood-red rough wood panel carving brushstrokes combined with Chinese style to outline the film's unique absurd style. From the stills exposed together, you can glimpse the character modeling in the film, full of realistic texture.
In addition, "Mistake by the River" is Wei Shujun's fourth time selected for the Cannes Film Festival, and in 2018, the short film "Yanbian Boy" directed by him won the Special Mention Award in the Short Film Competition Unit of the 71st Cannes Film Festival. In 2020, the film "Wild Horse Split Mane" directed by him was also shortlisted for the official unit of the 73rd Cannes Film Festival. In 2021, "Yong'an Town Story Collection" was selected into the "Director's Fortnight" unit in Cannes.
"Wild Horse Split Mane" is Wei Shujun's first full-fledged feature film, which is commercially supported by Alibaba Pictures and was also shortlisted for the "Cannes 2020" film list at the 73rd Cannes International Film Festival. It will be released on Chinese mainland on November 26, 2021, with a final box office of 11.76 million,
In 2021, the new film "Yong'an Town Story Collection" was shortlisted for the Director's Fortnight Unit of the 74th Cannes International Film Festival, not only shortlisted for Cannes for two consecutive years, Wei Shujun himself also won the Fei Mu Honorary Best Director at the Pingyao Film Festival with this film. "Yong'an Town Story Collection" is one of the most widely discussed films at the Pingyao Film Festival, with a Douban score of 8.3 points.
Since then, Chinese films plus "Mistake by the River" have been shortlisted for 5 feature films and 2 short films at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Wang Bing's two documentaries were shortlisted, "Youth" was shortlisted for the main competition unit, and "Men in Black" was shortlisted for special screening; "Burning Winter" directed by Chen Zheyi was shortlisted for a kind of attention unit; "Little White Boat" directed by Geng Zihan was shortlisted for the Director's Fortnight; Pan Yue's short film "Summer Copy" was shortlisted for the Director's Fortnight Short Film Unit; Director Shu Hui's short film "A Walking Night" was shortlisted for the Film Critics Week Short Film Competition Unit.
It is reported that Wang Bing's documentary "Youth" was shortlisted for the main competition unit after Diao Yinan's "The Party at the Southern Station", and the Chinese-language film was shortlisted for the Cannes main competition unit again after four years, "Youth" focuses on Yunnan's migrant workers in Shanghai, which is Wang Bing's second finalist in Cannes after five years after "Dead Soul", and he is also the first Chinese director to be shortlisted for the Cannes main competition with a documentary.
The Cannes Film Festival will open on May 16.