The Cord of Life, produced by Cao Yu and Yao Chen, directed and written by young director Qiao Sixue, starring Golden Rooster Award winning actress Badema and nomadic electronic musician Yider, was officially announced to be opening in theaters nationwide on March 18 with a poster and trailer released. The film tells the story of ALUS, a musician, who accompanies his mother with Alzheimer's disease back to the hometown grassland and looks for the “Yinyang Tree” she’s obsessed with. The warm journey is filled with the bonding between mother and son, laughter and tears, as well as the mother’s most beautiful dream.
The film was shortlisted in the Project Pitches of the 10th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) three years ago, and won the “Special Award”. During the final project pitching, young director Qiao Sixue told us about her special bond with her mother. “My mom is very strict with me. I do want to get away from her, but I am also very scared of losing her.” Such complex and intertwined emotions made the story touching and sincere.
After her presentation, the judges spoke highly of the project, describing it as “a film that wanders in beauty and purity”. Judge Yong Mei expressed her preference for the project, “If only I were younger by 20 years to play the daughter or older by 10 years to play the mom.”
Cinematographer Cao Yu, winners of the Golden Rooster Awards, Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards, and actress Yao Chen worked as producers for the first feature film by young director Qiao Sixue. Yao Chen produced a film by a young female director for the third time following the Send Me to the Clouds and Flaming Cloud. The Cord of Life was completely filmed on the Hulunbuir Grassland, Inner Mongolia. With Cao Yu being the cinematographer, the picturesque grassland was well captured in a real but romantic way. As a native born on the Hulunbuir Grassland, director Qiao Sixue explained she was inspired by a lonely senior she ran into on the street while she was studying abroad, who reminded her of her mother back home. So she created The Cord of Life to pay tribute to her hometown and her mother. Yao Chen and Cao Yu were touched by the mother-and-son bond in the screenplay, and decided to produce the film. Apart from contribution to the screenplay, they built a superb crew to provide strong support for the young director’s film just like how the umbilical cord supplies nutrients to fetuses.
Upon completion of production, it became the only film from Chinese mainland to be shortlisted for the Asian Future section of the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival, and won the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 4th Hainan Island International Film Festival. Besides, the film was well received by professionals and movie-goers during its screening, and acclaimed as “a beautiful and moving audio-visual feast of the grassland that warms souls”.
The film is produced by Fu Ruoqing as chief producer, Liu Hui and Hu Jing as producers, Bad Rabbits (Shanghai) Pictures Co., Ltd., China Film Co., Ltd., Aranya Film Culture Co., Ltd., Xiangshan Dachengtianxia Cultural Development Co., Ltd., Cine Motion (Beijing) Ltd. and Xingcan (Shanghai) Culture & Media Co., Ltd.. The heart-warming film is opening in theaters nationwide on March 18.
Just like the umbilical cord that signifies connection and inheritance, the BJIFF Project Pitches is fully committed to connecting young directors with industry resources, and offering outstanding young filmmakers all-round help and support. The call for entries of the Project Pitches of the 13th BJIFF Beijing Film Market is to be closed in 5 days. See you in Beijing in spring!
Call for projects of the Project Pitches:December 16, 2022 - 12:00PM, March 3, 2023
Call for WIPs of the Project Pitches:December 16, 2022 - 12:00PM, March 10, 2023
Call for entries of the sports film section of the Beijing International Sports Film Week：December 16, 2022 - 12:00PM, March 3, 2023
Application for the Project Pitches:http://system.bjiff.com/market/loginController.do?entranceJsp&type=ct
Inquiries regarding the Project Pitches:projectpitches@bjiff.com
Phone number:+86 15510010851 +86 18500377391