A variety of Chinese short films will be screened at the Tampere Film Festival 2016, which runs
from March 9th to 13th. Held annually in the Finnish city of Tampere,
the short film festival is one of the oldest and most respected in northern Europe.
In association with gbtimes, the festival will present two Chinema screenings on March
10th and 11th featuring a diverse range of documentaries, fiction and animation from China.
Let’s take a quick a look at what is on offer.
Themes of family, redemption and dignity are
tackled in this 17 minute short film entitled Spring in South City. Directed by Leo
Ling, the film tells the fictional story of a divorced urban management officer who has
problems at work, is struggling to raise his son alone and has little self-respect.
Co-written, edited and directed by Wang He, Doge is the bittersweet story of a relationship
between a pet and its elderly owner. One day the old lady collapses and the faithful hound
rushes off for help, but not everything is as it first appears.
The Descendants is a short documentary from Hu Jinyan that presents a day in the life
of a Chinese blacksmith. We watch him hunched over his workbench, tirelessly hammering molten
metal all day, until you can almost imagine the smell of smoke and feel of soot on your own skin.
Echoes of Life is a short hand-drawn animation
made by director Duan Jie inspired by the elephant in Changchun zoo who died of heart
failure in 2008. This is an emotive animation about perception, about life and about seeking
love, as well as the power of an empty park bench.
Beishan is an isolated mountain village in northwest China and is the location for director
Bai Qiang’s short fiction film of the same name. Li Long, a young orphaned boy, wants
to escape the tedium and experience the world but his elderly grandfather thinks otherwise.
However, the purchase of a harmonica sets change in motion.
Ghost in the Paint by director Yin Haoran is an experimental stop-motion animation that
has been adapted from an ancient Chinese ghost story. With just a child’s toy doll, gorgeous
costumes and detailed set decoration, we are taken on an odd journey that ends in a dream-like animated sequence.
Based on a true story, director Chen Kai’s
film A Homeless Man follows the aftermath of a prison break and one fugitive’s attempt
to reach his daughter. Filmed among the snowy landscapes of MoHe on the border of China
and Russia, the short film has moments of humour, horror and heart.
Director Tsai Ming Liang’s No No Sleep is a languid 30-minute journey through one night
in Tokyo. We encounter a slow-moving monk, a subway journey, two men in a public bath
and a battle with insomnia.
Together, Cao Runze, Jin Zewei and Yang Han
have written and directed Forefinger Town, an animation about a little old lady living
beneath an ever-developing tower. Debris from the construction overhead constantly rains
down on her home and the little Buddha statue in the garden until one day she starts to dig.
Love Me or Hate Me is a fly-on-the-wall documentary
from director Luo Renqi that follows a young woman named Wang Xiyue as she introduces her
boyfriend to her mother. However, the boy is Japanese and Wang faces overwhelming prejudices
regarding his nationality that could end their relationship.
The Chinema screenings take place on March 10th and 11th in Tampere’s Plevna Cinema.
Tickets are available from Lippu.fi.