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Profile | How Chinese star Xin Zhilei, best actress winner at Venice Film Festival, rose to the top
Xin Zhilei discusses her acting journey, her historic win for The Sun Rises on Us All and what it was like working with Wong Kar-wai
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When Xin Zhilei stood up to accept her best actress award at this year’s Venice Film Festival, winning for Cai Shangjun’s The Sun Rises on Us All, she was in a daze.
“I feel like I am dreaming,” she said.
The first Chinese actress to win the prestigious prize since Deanie Ip Tak-han took it for Ann Hui On-wah’s A Simple Life in 2011, and only the third ever to do so – the other being Gong Li for 1992’s The Story of Qiu Ju – it marks a significant step in an already notable career.
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Two days before her historic win, 39-year-old Xin sat down with the Post for an interview at a hotel on Venice’s Lido island in a cottage space that was as delicate as a dollhouse.
It felt a slightly bizarre setting for an actress whose performance here was so grounded, so real, even though Xin is also known for her work with the legendary director Wong Kar-wai on his 2023 television series Blossoms Shanghai.
China’s Xin Zhilei wins Best Actress at Venice Film Festival
China’s Xin Zhilei wins Best Actress at Venice Film Festival
In The Sun Rises on Us All, she plays Meiyun, a small-time business owner already sinking under the pressures of life when she gets a real shock running into her ex-partner Baoshu (Zhang Songwen) – a man who went to jail instead of her when they were involved in a hit and run.
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