Shanghai announces local projects

---

---

Festival News

The Shanghai International Film Festival 上海國際電影節 (16-24 June) has announced the eight local projects in its China Film Pitch & Catch (CFPC) project market.

The selection includes Arrival 末班列車, the latest drama from Taiwan's TENG Yung-hsing 鄧勇星 (pictured), whose Return Ticket 到阜陽六百里 (2010) competed at the festival's Asian New Talent Award last year, winning best director.

JIA Zhangke 賈樟柯 protégé CHEN Tao 陳濤's Rainbow 虹 is among the most ambitious. The story of a man searching for his missing wife for two decades against the backdrop of a changing China has already raised half its $2.4 million budget.

The biggest surprise is another first feature, from China Daily columnist and film critic Raymond ZHOU 周黎明. His $480,000 coming-of-age drama Boy in the Water 水中少年 is about a boy abandoned by his parents in his mountain village.

Another writer-turned-director, screenwriter LI Wei 李薇, presents Female Fountain 一路狂奔. The project is a road movie featuring an abandoned bride and the sexy night club showgirl she wakes up next to after a night of drunken abandon.

Other highlights include new films from genre directors DENG Ke 鄧科 and LI Yang 李陽, responsible for upcoming horror Midnight Microblog 午夜微博 and the high-concept action-fantasy Lee's Adventure 李獻計歷險記 (2011) respectively.

Deng's The Hero of My Grandfather 爺爺騎士團 is a comedy about three elderly war heroes who become accidental kidnappers after their life savings are stolen. Li's To Kill a Demon 降妖 is about a detective hired to discover a serial killer of faeries.

 
SHANGHAI IFF: CHINA FILM PITCH & CATCH 2012

• Arrival; dir. TENG Yung-hsing [China/Taiwan]
• Boy in the Water; dir. Raymond ZHOU [China]
• A China House 中國房子; dir. LU Sheng 盧晟 [China]
• Female Fountain; dir. LI Wei [China]
• The Hero of My Grandfather; dir. DENG Ke [China]
• Rainbow; dir. CHEN Tao [China]
• The Sun the Cruelty of Youth 五月的夏天; dirs. HE Wenchao 何文超 & LIANG Ming 梁鳴 [China]
• To Kill a Demon; dir. LI Yang [China]

---