White Deer is Berlin's dark horse

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Festival News

White Deer Plain 白鹿原, WANG Quanan 王全安's adaptation of CHEN Zhongshi 陳忠實's novel, has been announced as the final competition entry at next month's Berlin International Film Festival (9-19 Feb 2012).

The story is set one hundred years ago, after the Xinhai Revolution. During the period of social upheaval, two important families in White Deer Village in Shaanxi province war over land ownership, with a woman caught between them.

Shaanxi-born Wang is a regular at the German festival. In 2007, Tuya's Marriage 圖雅的婚事 (2006) won the Golden Bear. Two years ago, his Apart Together 團圓 (2010) opened the festival and won the best screenplay award.

With an official budget of RMB100 million ($15.9 million), the director's biggest yet, the epic multi-generational drama stars ZHANG Fengyi 張豐毅, WU Gang 吳剛, DUAN Yihong 段奕宏 and Kitty ZHANG 張雨綺.

White Deer Plain will compete with two other Asian films: Edwin's Postcards from the Zoo Kebun binatang and Brillante Ma. MENDOZA's Captive.

Two other high-profile Chinese films — ZHANG Yimou 張藝謀's The Flowers of War 金陵十三釵 and TSUI Hark 徐克's Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 龍門飛甲 — screen out of competition.

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