https://www.scmp.com/rss/514952/feed Reporting on the most famous and fashionable, and the films, at the annual Berlin International Film Festival. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ashlyn Chak Ashlyn Chak This is the 73rd instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. In the golden age of Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing was a star so bright that he rewrote the rules of conservative Asian society. Affectionately nicknamed Gor Gor – Cantonese for “older brother” – the Cantopop legend’s talent spanned disciplines and extended far beyond the city’s borders. Even now, decades after his death in 2003, fans from around the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3348009/how-leslie-cheung-broke-all-rules-become-hong-kongs-greatest-modern-superstar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3348009/how-leslie-cheung-broke-all-rules-become-hong-kongs-greatest-modern-superstar?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 23:15:13 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram The Berlin International Film Festival has always been a politically charged event, but this year’s 76th edition was a cauldron. Early on, author Arundhati Roy resigned from her duties at the festival after Wim Wenders, the German filmmaker and head of the jury, said filmmakers should stay out of politics. This followed a jury press conference where a journalist questioned the festival’s stance on showing solidarity with victims of global conflicts, but ignoring Gaza. In the wake of this, over... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344441/10-best-movies-2026-berlin-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344441/10-best-movies-2026-berlin-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Feb 2026 09:12:21 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram Art-house movie trilogies are rare beasts, and even rarer when they are unintended. “I think it was completely accidental,” says Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen of the 13-year odyssey to complete his “Growing Up” trilogy. It began in 2013 with his debut Ilo Ilo, the sensitive tale of a boy’s bond with his domestic helper. The film won Chen the Camera d’Or at Cannes, the prize awarded for best first feature. He followed it six years later with Wet Season, in which a teacher finds herself drawn... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344024/how-anthony-chens-we-are-all-strangers-captures-beauty-working-class-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344024/how-anthony-chens-we-are-all-strangers-captures-beauty-working-class-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Feb 2026 04:45:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2.5/5 stars Premiering in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, Japanese anime A New Dawn is a strange beast indeed. By turns baffling and beguiling, the 76-minute miniature blends issues of climate change and the cosmos, wrapping them up in a generational story that even touches on the pervasive powers of social media. Imaginative though it may be, whether the film is suitable for children or teenagers – despite the youth of the characters – is open to debate. Set in rural... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343958/berlin-2026-new-dawn-movie-review-climate-crisis-meets-fireworks-confusing-anime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343958/berlin-2026-new-dawn-movie-review-climate-crisis-meets-fireworks-confusing-anime?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Feb 2026 04:15:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars Following his lacklustre English-language debut Drift (2023) starring Cynthia Erivo, filmmaker Anthony Chen returns to Singapore for the sprawling, surprising and spot on drama, We Are All Strangers. Playing in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, it completes Chen’s “Growing Up” trilogy that began with his debut, Ilo Ilo (2013), which won the Caméra d’Or award at that year’s Cannes, and continued with Wet Season (2019) – a trio of films that, he has stated, reflects... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343664/berlin-2026-we-are-all-strangers-movie-review-epic-look-fatherhood-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343664/berlin-2026-we-are-all-strangers-movie-review-epic-look-fatherhood-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Feb 2026 14:15:07 +0000 dpa dpa Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh was visibly moved when she was honoured for her lifetime achievement during the opening of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday evening. “Please allow me this one personal moment,” the 63-year-old, who won an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2023, told the audience in the German capital as she collected the festival’s Honorary Golden Bear award. “A part of me is still that young girl who simply wanted to make her parents proud,”... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3343392/michelle-yeohs-tearful-tribute-parents-berlin-film-festival-i-carry-him-me?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3343392/michelle-yeohs-tearful-tribute-parents-berlin-film-festival-i-carry-him-me?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Feb 2026 01:34:45 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram Indian art-house cinema is flourishing, showing a different side to the Indian movie industry best known for its glossy Bollywood films. “I think it’s been a good year for us,” says Payal Kapadia, director of All We Imagine as Light, with almost disarming modesty. Twelve months ago, her sensitive, subtle, dreamy film about three women hospital workers in Mumbai became the first Indian drama selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s main competition in 30 years. It won the Grand Prix, the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3308376/move-over-bollywood-indian-art-house-cinema-rise-film-festivals-take-note?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3308376/move-over-bollywood-indian-art-house-cinema-rise-film-festivals-take-note?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:19:06 +0000 Right from the off, there was heavy snow on the streets and a chill wind blowing through the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. Politics has often dominated this particular cinematic gathering, and this year was no different. On the opening night, jury head Todd Haynes bashed US President Donlad Trump and honorary Golden Bear winner Tilda Swinton warned that “the inhumane is being perpetrated on our watch”. The spectre of global conflict also loomed large in the selection of films by... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299982/berlin-2025-10-festivals-best-films-light-dreams-and-islands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299982/berlin-2025-10-festivals-best-films-light-dreams-and-islands?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Feb 2025 03:15:55 +0000 Dreams (Sex Love), a tender coming-of-age drama about a young woman’s first crush on a teacher and the art of writing won the Golden Bear top prize at the 75th Berlin Film Festival. The grand jury Silver Bear prize was awarded to Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro’s film The Blue Trail, a dystopian story set in the Amazon about an elderly woman who chooses to reject living the rest of her life in a senior housing colony. Chinese director Huo Meng won best director for Living the Land, his... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299782/berlin-film-festival-top-prize-coming-age-drama-best-director-chinas-huo-meng?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299782/berlin-film-festival-top-prize-coming-age-drama-best-director-chinas-huo-meng?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Feb 2025 01:47:56 +0000 4/5 stars Veteran Korean director Hong Sang-soo specialises in delicate character studies, but rarely has he found such a warm ray of humour as he does in his latest film, What Does That Nature Say to You. Premiering in competition at the Berlin International Film festival – a feat Hong seems to manage almost every year without fail – this new work is an incisive domestic comedy-drama that feels like it has the potential to break out of the festival circuit. The story begins as a couple arrive... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3299533/berlin-2025-what-does-nature-say-you-movie-review-hong-sang-soos-comedy-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3299533/berlin-2025-what-does-nature-say-you-movie-review-hong-sang-soos-comedy-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Feb 2025 01:44:59 +0000 3.5/5 stars “I have written a handful of words that are going to cheat death.” So says Ethan Hawke as he plays the real-life American lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) in Richard Linklater’s latest film. A likeable chamber piece, Blue Moon premiered this week in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, and it would not be a stretch to see Hawke awarded for his performance. Thirty years and nine films into his long-standing collaboration with Linklater, this is arguably his most... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299238/berlin-2025-blue-moon-movie-review-ethan-hawke-leads-richard-linklaters-tender-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299238/berlin-2025-blue-moon-movie-review-ethan-hawke-leads-richard-linklaters-tender-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Feb 2025 03:45:06 +0000 Ennui is a feeling that can envelop anyone, however creative they are. “Every day I wake up I think to myself, ‘My life is so plain and joyless,’” says Hong Kong filmmaker Jun Li Jun-shuo. “I mean, people of my age, they do a lot of different stuff. They do pottery. They take up new hobbies. They go hiking. They have this wonderful life on their social media. And every day I wake up … I don’t know what I should do today.” If this sounds like he is bemoaning his lot, he is not. When we meet for... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299150/how-hong-kong-director-jun-li-tracey-and-drifting-fame-made-his-most-daring-film-yet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299150/how-hong-kong-director-jun-li-tracey-and-drifting-fame-made-his-most-daring-film-yet?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:15:07 +0000 Clarence Tsui Clarence Tsui 3/5 stars Girls on Wire is first and foremost a showcase of Wen Qi’s versatility. In the film, the Taiwanese actress originally known as Vicky Chen Wen-chi gets to emote as a maternal big sister, brood like an embittered avenger and go airborne and underwater as a swordswoman; she also switches between Sichuanese dialect and Mandarin with aplomb. But what perks up Wen’s performance creates pitfalls for the film’s director, Vivian Qu. Trading in tropes drawn from family melodramas, film noir and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299044/berlin-2025-girls-wire-movie-review-wen-qi-stars-vivian-qus-uneven-genre-blender?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3299044/berlin-2025-girls-wire-movie-review-wen-qi-stars-vivian-qus-uneven-genre-blender?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Feb 2025 14:30:08 +0000 4/5 stars Korean master Bong Joon-ho is back with his first film since 2019’s Cannes- and Oscar-winning Parasite. Six years is a long time, but the director has not lost any of his storytelling sensibilities when it comes to unpacking Edward Ashton’s cult novel Mickey7. A science fiction parable, one that fits neatly alongside Bong’s earlier works Snowpiercer (2013) and Okja (2017), Mickey 17 is a darkly funny look at humankind’s desire to conquer at any cost. Set in 2054, the film stars... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3298927/berlin-2025-mickey-17-movie-review-parasites-bong-joon-ho-back-wild-sci-fi-satire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3298927/berlin-2025-mickey-17-movie-review-parasites-bong-joon-ho-back-wild-sci-fi-satire?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:29:55 +0000 3.5/5 stars “I want to take care of you,” coos Jessica Chastain’s wealthy American in Michel Franco’s latest film, Dreams, playing in competition at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival. It is another sparse, clinical work from the Mexican-born Franco, who last gave us 2023’s sublime Memory – which co-starred Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard. In his new film – which will leave you dazed and disquieted, and is likely to rattle around your head for days after watching it – Chastain headlines as... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3298652/berlin-2025-dreams-movie-review-jessica-chastain-chilling-film-us-mexico-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3298652/berlin-2025-dreams-movie-review-jessica-chastain-chilling-film-us-mexico-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Feb 2025 21:30:18 +0000 4.5/5 stars Contemporary Chinese cinema is littered with decades-spanning epics designed to chronicle the country’s changing fortunes in the 20th century. With Living the Land, which won the best director award at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival, Huo Meng has achieved the same objective with a film unfolding across merely a year. Revolving around a clan of impoverished farmers in Henan province, central China, in 1991, Huo’s second feature is a visually captivating, studiously... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3298712/berlin-2025-living-land-movie-review-searing-account-chinas-rural-poor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3298712/berlin-2025-living-land-movie-review-searing-account-chinas-rural-poor?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Feb 2025 14:15:09 +0000 This is the 36th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. When child actors are mentioned, tales of children falling victim to adult greed, losing themselves to media attention or even succumbing to addiction come to mind. Josephine Siao Fong-fong avoided such pitfalls. Born Xiao Liang in Shanghai in 1947, she moved to Hong Kong with her parents when she was two years old. Her father died the following year, and Siao began acting at the age... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3283491/who-josephine-siao-how-popular-hong-kong-actress-went-child-star-activist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3283491/who-josephine-siao-how-popular-hong-kong-actress-went-child-star-activist?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Oct 2024 23:15:07 +0000 3.5/5 stars An elderly lesbian loses her unmarried life partner unexpectedly and then sees her once-cordial relationship with the latter’s relatives disintegrate over inheritance issues in All Shall Be Well. A quietly heart-wrenching drama from writer-director Ray Yeung, the film highlights a loophole in same-sex couples’ legal rights in Hong Kong. It won the Teddy Award at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival – one of the most prestigious honours for an LGBTQ-themed feature in world... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3260916/all-shall-be-well-movie-review-hong-kong-lgbtq-drama-suk-suk-director-ray-yeung-highlights-tragic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3260916/all-shall-be-well-movie-review-hong-kong-lgbtq-drama-suk-suk-director-ray-yeung-highlights-tragic?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Apr 2024 09:15:22 +0000 This year’s Berlin International Film Festival – the 74th edition – was a feisty affair, with protests on the red carpet against the war in Gaza, as some called for boycotts of major German cultural institutions. But it was also a forward-looking one: Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o made history as the first black head of the jury, ultimately awarding Mati Diop’s one-hour documentary Dahomey the coveted Golden Bear. In what is the last official selection made by outgoing artistic director Carlo... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3253313/berlin-international-film-festival-2024-10-best-movies-kristen-stewarts-love-lies-bleeding-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3253313/berlin-international-film-festival-2024-10-best-movies-kristen-stewarts-love-lies-bleeding-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Feb 2024 02:56:40 +0000 3/5 stars Those who revel in the sound of knuckles crashing into faces, rejoice: South Korean master puncher Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee) has returned with The Roundup: Punishment, in which his no-nonsense, po-faced police officer again gets to thrash an endless stream of thugs in backstreet alleys, cramped toilets and the business-class cabin of an aeroplane. Now into the fourth instalment of the series and with stunt coordinator Heo Myeong-haeng (Badland Hunters) taking the helm, the story has... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3252915/berlin-2024-roundup-punishment-korean-hard-man-ma-dong-seok-po-faced-punching-machine-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3252915/berlin-2024-roundup-punishment-korean-hard-man-ma-dong-seok-po-faced-punching-machine-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2024 14:30:10 +0000 3.5/5 stars Chinese filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai has dedicated a lot of his career to hard-hitting dramas about the drastic social and historical changes of his country. Who would have thought his latest film would lead to comparisons with Christopher Nolan’s blockbusters? But that’s what Above the Dust entails, as its young protagonist’s dreams take the shape of an Inception-like journey through his recently deceased grandfather’s long-submerged, guilt-ridden memories of his life – including a key... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252934/berlin-2024-above-dust-chinese-director-wang-xiaoshuai-evokes-christopher-nolan-history-minded-rural?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252934/berlin-2024-above-dust-chinese-director-wang-xiaoshuai-evokes-christopher-nolan-history-minded-rural?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2024 11:15:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars The first Nepalese movie ever selected for the Berlin Film Festival’s main competition, Shambhala is a meditative and undeniably beautiful experience. Transfixing shots of the Himalayas form the backdrop for this spiritual tale of marriage, motherhood and the pressures of monastic life. With the title (which doesn’t even appear on screen until 50 minutes in) alluding to a place of reincarnation, the film centres on Pema (Thinley Lhamo), a woman who begins the film about to enter a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252913/berlin-2024-shambhala-movie-review-first-nepalese-film-ever-be-selected-competition-transcendent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252913/berlin-2024-shambhala-movie-review-first-nepalese-film-ever-be-selected-competition-transcendent?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2024 03:15:13 +0000 2.5/5 stars “There was so much love – where did it all go?” asks Hanus (Paul Dano) in this strange, surreal and ultimately unsatisfying Netflix-backed sci-fi. That Hanus is a giant talking arachnid-like creature that appears to be a projection of a lone astronaut’s fears and isolation is just one of the film’s bizarre elements. Premiering out of competition at the Berlin Film Festival, Spaceman stars Adam Sandler as Jakob, who has spent six months in space alone investigating an astral... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252790/berlin-2024-spaceman-movie-review-netflix-sci-fi-drama-starring-adam-sandler-carey-mulligan-and-paul?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252790/berlin-2024-spaceman-movie-review-netflix-sci-fi-drama-starring-adam-sandler-carey-mulligan-and-paul?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Feb 2024 05:15:08 +0000 2/5 stars Down the years, many a documentary has been made about the African diaspora in China – Mans Mansson’s Stranded in Canton, for example, or Christiane Badgley’s Guangzhou Dream Factory – but they were made by non-African filmmakers. Anticipations were high, therefore, when award-winning Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Waiting for Happiness, Timbuktu) was revealed to have made a fictional feature about the subject with Black Tea, which premiered in competition at the Berlin... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252704/berlin-2024-black-tea-movie-review-first-film-about-african-diaspora-china-directed-african-massive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252704/berlin-2024-black-tea-movie-review-first-film-about-african-diaspora-china-directed-african-massive?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Feb 2024 21:30:27 +0000 When Hong Kong director Ray Yeung began researching for his new film All Shall Be Well, he heard some real horror stories. The film deals with the fallout between the family of a deceased woman and her unmarried partner, Angie (Patra Au Ga-man). Unable to marry due to Hong Kong’s laws that only permit heterosexual unions, Angie finds herself brutally exposed when Pat dies suddenly without making a will. Under Hong Kong rules, the property rights revert to the family, and Angie looks set to be... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252635/how-shocking-true-stories-hong-kong-gay-couples-rights-inspired-director-ray-yeungs-new-film-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252635/how-shocking-true-stories-hong-kong-gay-couples-rights-inspired-director-ray-yeungs-new-film-all?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Feb 2024 09:45:13 +0000 2/5 stars Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo returns to the Berlin International Film Festival with his latest film A Traveler’s Needs, another modestly scaled piece – albeit this time featuring that icon of world cinema, Isabelle Huppert. Despite Huppert’s presence, there is no discernible change in style from a director who might be dubbed a master of inaction. Huppert plays Iris, a mystery woman in Korea. When we first meet her, she is teaching a young woman French, which seems to be her way of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3252502/berlin-2024-travelers-needs-movie-review-isabelle-huppert-mystery-woman-korea-typically-opaque-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3252502/berlin-2024-travelers-needs-movie-review-isabelle-huppert-mystery-woman-korea-typically-opaque-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Feb 2024 02:42:40 +0000 4/5 stars Seven years after he won the best short film award at the Cannes Film Festival with A Gentle Night, Melbourne-educated Chinese filmmaker Qiu Yang has released his first feature film. It is substantial and stylish and revolves around a woman weighed down by the ever-widening cracks within her family, and her long-suppressed doubts about her desires in her comfortable middle-class life. Anchored by Yu Aier’s remarkably nuanced turn as the woman careering towards a complete breakdown,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252449/berlin-2024-some-rain-must-fall-movie-review-chinese-drama-cannes-best-short-film-winner-qiu-yang?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252449/berlin-2024-some-rain-must-fall-movie-review-chinese-drama-cannes-best-short-film-winner-qiu-yang?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Feb 2024 12:00:18 +0000 3.5/5 stars Premiering in competition at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, Piero Messina’s tale of grief and memory set in the near future begins with a clever bit of word play. The words “Not here” are spelled out from the film’s title, Another End. And this is exactly what the film is about: loved ones who are gone but not forgotten. In the sci-fi- tinged world it depicts, technology has been developed to allow us to say our goodbyes even after our nearest and dearest have died. Memories can be... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252369/berlin-2024-another-end-movie-review-departed-loved-ones-reanimated-derivative-sci-fi-story?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3252369/berlin-2024-another-end-movie-review-departed-loved-ones-reanimated-derivative-sci-fi-story?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Feb 2024 02:50:53 +0000 The moment a young director marks their arrival on the international film scene is always a crucial one. For Chinese filmmaker Lin Jianjie, that moment is now. After directing three short films, his feature-film debut, Brief History of a Family, received its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Lin’s film was reportedly the first to be selected for the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic category. Variety called it an “engrossing brain-tickler”. Now it is about to receive its... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3250374/michael-crichton-lin-jianjie-went-science-filmmaking-ahead-his-debut-features-european-premiere-he?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3250374/michael-crichton-lin-jianjie-went-science-filmmaking-ahead-his-debut-features-european-premiere-he?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jan 2024 08:15:13 +0000 It is shaping up to be quite the year for Zhang Yimou, a leading light of China’s fifth generation of filmmakers. Zhang began 2023 with Full River Red, a historical murder mystery starring Jackson Yee and Shen Tang, set at the beginning of the Song dynasty (960-1279). Released during the Lunar New Year holiday, the film proved a box-office behemoth, raking in more than US$670 million to become the year’s biggest domestic hit to date. Just eight months later, Zhang, who turns 72 in November, has... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3238328/ranked-10-best-films-chinese-director-zhang-yimou-one-second-and-hero-raise-red-lantern-and-red?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3238328/ranked-10-best-films-chinese-director-zhang-yimou-one-second-and-hero-raise-red-lantern-and-red?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Oct 2023 03:15:13 +0000 3.5/5 stars Part grisly murder mystery, part pitch-black absurdist comedy feverishly musing on destiny and free will, Soi Cheang Pou-soi’s follow-up to his award-winning black-and-white crime thriller Limbo sees the director again mining his flair for genre experiments in this nightmarish roller coaster ride. Mad Fate’s ridiculously funny opening sees Lam Ka-tung’s fortune-teller, credited simply as “The Master”, bury a prostitute alive in a cemetery in a feng shui ritual meant to cheat fate –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3217567/mad-fate-movie-review-absurdist-hong-kong-murder-thriller-soi-cheang-lam-ka-tung-and-mirrors-lokman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3217567/mad-fate-movie-review-absurdist-hong-kong-murder-thriller-soi-cheang-lam-ka-tung-and-mirrors-lokman?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Apr 2023 10:15:08 +0000 In the Netflix movie Kill Boksoon, Jeon Do-yeon, who plays Gil Boksoon, a top assassin for the shadowy MK organisation, struggles to connect with her teenaged daughter, Jae. It turns out Boksoon is a better killer than parent. “Well, what is a good parent?” Jeon ponders during an interview at the recent Berlin International Film Festival, where the world premiere of her film took place. “Sometimes we can’t really judge what’s good or bad. Sometimes I don’t know if I’m right. Being a mother is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3215057/netflixs-kill-boksoon-star-jeon-do-yeon-huge-pressure-carrying-action-thriller-which-she-plays?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3215057/netflixs-kill-boksoon-star-jeon-do-yeon-huge-pressure-carrying-action-thriller-which-she-plays?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Mar 2023 10:15:10 +0000 In a first-floor corridor of the Grand Hyatt Berlin hotel, Fan Bingbing is applying her own make-up, holding up a small compact mirror and tilting her head backwards as she touches up her mascara. Only one room has been assigned for publicity purposes for her new movie Green Night, which has just been unveiled in the Panorama strand of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. And for the moment, the director of the film, Han Shuai, is doing a TV interview in there. Fan, however, doesn’t... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211810/its-restart-me-chinese-actress-fan-bingbing-relaunching-her-career-green-night-after-tax-scandal-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211810/its-restart-me-chinese-actress-fan-bingbing-relaunching-her-career-green-night-after-tax-scandal-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Feb 2023 23:15:09 +0000 The 2022 Berlin International Film Festival was pared down because of the pandemic, but this year saw a return to business as usual. The festival’s packed schedule featured a diverse selection of films. There was even an appearance by Steven Spielberg, who collected an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement while attending the screening of his new film, The Fabelmans. Below is our pick of 10 of the best movies from the festival, all of which are to be released in the coming months. 1.... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211647/berlin-film-festival-2023-10-best-movies-celine-songs-award-worthy-past-lives-reality-true-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211647/berlin-film-festival-2023-10-best-movies-celine-songs-award-worthy-past-lives-reality-true-life?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Feb 2023 11:15:11 +0000 The Berlin Film Festival wrapped just hours ago, after 11 hectic days of VIP premieres and exclusive red carpets. Celebrities and film insiders from around the world made fashionable appearances at Germany’s top cinematic celebration, with Kristen Stewart wearing a tweed pantsuit, while Anne Hathaway donned a see-through dress. Here are the best looks from the 73rd annual event, hosted from February 16 and 26: 1. Marisa Tomei Paco Rabanne designed Marisa Tomei’s knee-length skirt and matching,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3211694/18-dazzling-celebrity-outfits-berlin-film-festival-2023-anne-hathaways-sheer-valentino-dress-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3211694/18-dazzling-celebrity-outfits-berlin-film-festival-2023-anne-hathaways-sheer-valentino-dress-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Feb 2023 09:34:00 +0000 The French documentary On the Adamant (Sur l’Adamant) directed by Nicolas Philibert was named best film on Saturday at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. The film takes viewers on to a Seine barge in Paris that serves as a floating day care centre for adults suffering from mental disorders. “That a documentary is awarded and celebrated, that a documentary can be considered to be cinema in its own right touches me deeply,” said a visibly moved Philibert after the prize was announced... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3211562/french-documentary-adamant-wins-top-prize-berlinale-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3211562/french-documentary-adamant-wins-top-prize-berlinale-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Feb 2023 19:58:21 +0000 3/5 stars When Liu Jian’s film Have A Nice Day launched in 2017, fellow countryman and director Jia Zhangke rightly called it a milestone in Chinese animation. A sly, Coen Brothers-inspired crime drama, made by a handful of animators, there really was nothing else like it out there. With some reservations the same can be said for his new movie, Art College 1994, which, like its predecessor, has taken a competition slot at the Berlin International Film Festival. Set on the campus of the Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211441/berlin-2023-art-college-1994-movie-review-chinese-animation-director-liu-jian-returns-slacker-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211441/berlin-2023-art-college-1994-movie-review-chinese-animation-director-liu-jian-returns-slacker-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Feb 2023 11:45:08 +0000 2.5/5 stars Banished to the wilderness by the authorities in China for nearly five years for tax evasion, A-list Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is back in the limelight with her appearance in Green Night. Premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival, the film features Fan as a down-and-out migrant worker who is exploited, throttled and raped before turning into a hard-as-hell avenger who beats up one of her assailants and sets fire to another. Packed with all this and much more – including... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3211053/berlin-2023-green-night-movie-review-chinese-actress-fan-bingbing-makes-audacious-return-after-tax?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3211053/berlin-2023-green-night-movie-review-chinese-actress-fan-bingbing-makes-audacious-return-after-tax?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:00:10 +0000 4/5 stars Japanese director Makoto Shinkai delivers another beguiling animation in Suzume, a film that plays equally well for young and old. Featured in competition at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival – an honour it well deserves – Suzume is inspired by the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck northeast Honshu island in Japan in 2011. Weaving fantasy elements into a contemporary story, one that takes audiences on a picaresque journey around Japan, Shinkai creates... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211243/berlin-2023-suzume-movie-review-fantastical-coming-age-tale-japanese-animation-director-makato?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211243/berlin-2023-suzume-movie-review-fantastical-coming-age-tale-japanese-animation-director-makato?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Feb 2023 15:15:10 +0000 2/5 stars Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo is back with his new film In Water (officially styled as in water). Premiering in the experimental Encounters strand at the Berlin International Film Festival, it returns him to his spiritual home. His last three films, all made since 2020, have all been major prizewinners at the German festival, with Hong winning the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (for The Novelist’s Film), best screenplay (Introduction), and best director (The Woman Who Ran). This latest... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3211087/berlin-2023-water-movie-review-korean-director-hong-sang-soos-61-minute-muse-filmmaking-chore-sit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3211087/berlin-2023-water-movie-review-korean-director-hong-sang-soos-61-minute-muse-filmmaking-chore-sit?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Feb 2023 16:30:13 +0000 The Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly wreaked havoc on the world, but at least for one director, it served a purpose. Zhang Lu, the Chinese filmmaker behind such movies as Desert Dream (2007) and Scenery (2013), had been teaching in South Korea, when he returned to China during the pandemic and was forced to quarantine. “I was locked in a hotel room for two weeks,” he tells the Post at an interview at the Berlin International Film Festival, where his new work, The Shadowless Tower, has just... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211054/shadowless-tower-how-korean-chinese-filmmaker-zhang-lu-thinks-his-new-film-maybe-reflects-reality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3211054/shadowless-tower-how-korean-chinese-filmmaker-zhang-lu-thinks-his-new-film-maybe-reflects-reality?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Feb 2023 10:15:11 +0000 4/5 stars A gentle, touching romance about first loves, and the destinies we carve out for ourselves, Celine Song’s Past Lives is an elegantly handled sliding doors story. Like 2021’s Minari, this simply told Korean-American tear-jerker has huge awards potential, particularly for its central performances from a trio of actors who understand their characters on a deeply emotional level. It starts, briefly, with a shot of all three in a bar, as an unseen observer ponders who they might be and what... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3210801/berlin-2023-past-lives-movie-review-greta-lee-teo-yoo-play-childhood-sweethearts-celine-songs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3210801/berlin-2023-past-lives-movie-review-greta-lee-teo-yoo-play-childhood-sweethearts-celine-songs?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Feb 2023 05:45:10 +0000 3/5 stars In a quiet corner of Beijing, a white pagoda looms large in the latest film from veteran Chinese director Zhang Lu (Yanagawa). As the title hints, it casts no shadow whatever the time of day, and it’s frequently to be found in the background of the frames of this contemporary story about love, forgiveness, and parenthood. What does it symbolise? That isn’t obvious in a rather opaque film that only gradually reveals itself. Unveiled in competition at this year’s Berlin International... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3210787/berlin-2023-shadowless-tower-movie-review-chinese-director-zhang-lus-midlife-drama-gentle-story-soul?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3210787/berlin-2023-shadowless-tower-movie-review-chinese-director-zhang-lus-midlife-drama-gentle-story-soul?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Feb 2023 01:58:20 +0000 3/5 stars The story of a female assassin who hides her professional life from her school-age daughter, Kill Boksoon is a Korean action film with more than a splash of John Wick about it. Set around MK Ent., a covert organisation with strict rules (such as not murdering children), the film offers a series of betrayals and bloodbaths that will feel all too familiar to anyone who has seen Keanu Reeves’ killer in action. Still, Kill Boksoon is written and directed by Byun Sung-hyun (The Beat Goes... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3210693/berlin-2023-kill-boksoon-movie-review-jeon-do-yeon-plays-assassin-korean-action-thriller-straight?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3210693/berlin-2023-kill-boksoon-movie-review-jeon-do-yeon-plays-assassin-korean-action-thriller-straight?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Feb 2023 20:30:16 +0000 3/5 stars With a title like Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, you know you’re in for something bold and slightly chaotic. Written and directed by Romanian auteur Radu Jude, it’s a comedy-drama that starts as it means to go on. Emi Cilibiu (Katia Pascariu) is a history teacher at a Romanian high school, who makes the mistake of making a sex tape with her husband. When he uploads it to a private website, it’s soon downloaded and goes viral. Suddenly, this “loony porn” sees her pilloried by fellow... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3179936/bad-luck-banging-or-loony-porn-movie-review-sex-and-social?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3179936/bad-luck-banging-or-loony-porn-movie-review-sex-and-social?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jun 2022 07:15:22 +0000 “Love and life.” Li Ruijun, a director of few words, you might say, has just summed up for me the themes he wanted to explore in his latest film, Return to Dust. As broad as this sounds – could it get any broader as an answer? – these are exactly the issues the Chinese filmmaker sets out to pursue with such delicate precision in this rural melodrama, the sixth feature of his increasingly engrossing career. Set in the early 2010s, the film follows a farmer and his wife, brought together in an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3167920/return-dust-its-movie-about-love-and-life-says-li-ruijun?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3167920/return-dust-its-movie-about-love-and-life-says-li-ruijun?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Feb 2022 10:15:16 +0000 In an ideal world, Vanja Kaludjercic would be out and about on the streets of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, introducing film directors and actors at sold-out screenings and catching up with producers and the press over coffee. The artistic director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam would find a hectic schedule like that something of a relief after last year, when the festival had to be held online because of the coronavirus pandemic. None of that, however, has come to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3164613/rotterdam-and-berlin-film-festival-organisers-pros-and-cons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3164613/rotterdam-and-berlin-film-festival-organisers-pros-and-cons?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Jan 2022 11:45:19 +0000 This year’s Berlin International Film Festival arrived not as a marathon, but a sprint thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. A five-day virtual event, with films delivered to your computer – if you were a buyer or a critic – this cram-a-thon was far removed from the chilly confines of the Potsdamer Platz, where the festival is usually held. No red carpets, photo-calls or in-person events. Just pure cinema piped directly to you, with no need to struggle for tickets or jostle in queues. If the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3124563/berlin-film-festival-2021-10-best-films-tina-turner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3124563/berlin-film-festival-2021-10-best-films-tina-turner?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Mar 2021 17:15:07 +0000 This year’s Berlin Film Festival felt a little different. Marking the 70th edition of this august European cinematic gathering, it ran two weeks later than usual because of the Oscars moving forward in the calendar. There was also a new artistic director, Carlo Chatrian, replacing the long-standing Dieter Kosslick. Adding to this fresh feeling, Chatrian was joined by Mariette Rissenbeek, in the newly created role of the festival’s managing director. Their collaboration brought the new section... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3064630/best-berlin-film-festival-2020-banned-iranian-director?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3064630/best-berlin-film-festival-2020-banned-iranian-director?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2020 16:15:11 +0000 New films starring Diane Kruger, Martin Freeman and Catherine Deneuve and features directed by Hollywood actors Jonah Hill and Casey Affleck will take the spotlight at next month’s Berlin film festival. China will be represented in competition with two features, One Second by Zhang Yimou and So Long, My Son by festival favourite Wang Xiaoshuai. India’s first museum celebrating film opens in home of Bollywood The 11-day Berlinale, now in its 69th year, figures along with Cannes and Venice among... https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2184230/berlin-film-festival-chinese-films-against-strong-field-including?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2184230/berlin-film-festival-chinese-films-against-strong-field-including?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Jan 2019 06:00:32 +0000