CHANGFENG TOWN (2019)

Director: Wang Jing (China)
Cast: Song Daiwei, Ban Ma Jia, Wei Xidi, Luo Wenqing, Chen Gang

 

Changfeng Town is located in an inconspicuous corner of China. The townspeople all know one another and are content with life. Airplanes often pass by the town, reminding people of an unknown outside world.

A rite-of-passage drama set in an imagined version of a small Chinese town – imagine a cross of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s imaginations of mid 20th century Taiwan and Jia Zhangke’s take on 1980s China – Changfeng Town spices up its rural melancholia with moments of amusingly offbeat comedy.

Many things in the town exist in solitude – the cinema, the dentist’s office, the car repair shop, the newspaper office and the elementary school. The townspeople are unique and full of eccentricities. Each has a story of their own: the domestic problem of the aimless Redhead, the secret between the dentist and his son, the unrequited love of cinema ticket-seller Cai-Xia, the loneliness of the crippled Xi-Shan, and the humdrum life of the Mayor. A few mischievous boys wander in and out of these little stories, with the eventual coming-of-age and departure of one of these boys.

Precisely poised right between expansive village epic and charming homespun comedy, Changfeng Town displays remarkable independent director/writer/editor Wang Jing’s impressive range, refreshing originality, and lovely, off-beat sense of humour. The film is in intertwining chapters, always filled with joy and sadness but never without hope.

 

Supported by

   

     

Festivals & Awards

  • Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (Competition), 2020
  • International Premiere: Busan International Film Festival, 2019
  • World Premiere: FIRST International FIlm Festival Xining, 2019 (Competition)
  • Taipei Golden Horse Film Project Promotion WIP, 2018
  • Creative Sound Production Award
    FIRST International Film Festival Xining, 2016
  • Script Development Award
    FIRST International Film Festival Xining, 2016
  • Best Young Director’s Project
    China Foundation Wutianming Fund for Young Talents, 2016
  • Asian Cinema Fund for Script Development
    Busan International Film Festival, 2016
  • Taipei Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, 2015

“A cross of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s imaginations of mid 20th century Taiwan and Jia Zhangke’s take on 1980s China – This film spices up its rural melancholia with moments of amusingly offbeat comedy.”
Clarence Tsui, Film Critic


“Displays remarkable independent director/writer Wang Jing’s impressive range, refreshing originality, and lovely, off-beat sense of humour.”
Shelly Kraicer, Film Curator


“There is a remarkable lyrical quality about Changfeng Town.”
Pema Tseden, Director/writer

For screening, please contact beepin@wormwood.sg or caoliuying@parallaxchina.com

Download press kit here