There is good news about the BJIFF Project Pitches. Damp Season, a WIP project in the Beijing Film Market section of the 9th BJIFF, is officially scheduled for June 24 in theaters nationwide!

The much-anticipated film Damp Season, co-starring Huang Yucong, Chen Xuanyu, Liang Long and Lin Zixi, is about to hit the cinema screens soon. Presented by Precious Pictures (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and Factory Gate Films (Shanghai) in collaboration with iQIYI Motion Pictures, it is Gao Ming’s film with Gao Ming and Liu Bing as screenwriters, Pema Tseden and Geng Jun as executive producers, and Huang Xufeng and Wang Lei as producers. As the general flavor expressed by the tagline “regain our lost love”, the tangled and ambiguous emotions in young adulthood shown in the film are worthwhile to expect.

　　Experiencing an extra measure of youthful love and regaining our lost love

Set in the south at the turn of spring and summer, the film tells the daily lives of two men and two women and the story that they are seemingly in harmony but actually at variance and have secret infatuations. Du Juan (Chen Xuanyu), who works in a flower store and dreams of owning hers, and Xiaodong (Huang Yucong), who works as a security guard guarding the lake and expects to rebuild the small stage at the amusement city and perform the story of the Monkey King on stage some day, are a couple living in an urban village. Du is gradually attracted to the mysterious Mr. Long (Liang Long), one of her clients, during her visits to Long’s house to arrange flowers, while Xiaodong runs into Yuanyuan (Lin Zixi), a girl who comes to free captive animals, as he guards the lake. The relationship of the four people is gradually dislocated, and behind the ambiguity there is something under the hood in all of them. As they shine upon each other, the damp season is creeping in…

With emotions in young adulthood of ordinary people as an entry point to it, the film Damp Season shows a journey of emotional dislocations against the backdrop of the unique southern climate. Instead of focusing on people’s increasingly inflated desires and impetuous development in pursuit of success, it takes a reverse perspective to conveys to the audience the “state of wanting to fly but being held down”, thoroughly revealing the youthful love of two men and two women who are restless but do not know the right way. It is precisely this unique perspective and reflective state of mind that would touch an emotional chord with the audience.

　　Backed by top-of-the-line cast & crew credits at every step of the way, the film produced with great concentration gains professional recognition

In addition to having two well-known filmmakers, Pema Tseden and Geng Jun, as the film’s executive producers, director Gao Ming also appeared in movie buffs’ view with a documentary called Paigu fifteen years ago. For the film, the director of photography is Ryuji Otsuka, who was the cinematographer for Egg and Stone and The Foolish Bird, along with Mr. Liao Ching-Sung, the famous film editor from Taiwan, China, as montage director. Notably, Liang Long, the lead singer of Second Hand Rose, plays Mr. Long in his first-ever feature film, which has a strong contrast with the public perception of his image – and this is bound to be a big surprise. The two songs he wrote during the shooting have also been released through the new album. In addition, newcomers Huang Yucong, Chen Xuanyu and Lin Zixi also contributed their superb acting. Among them, the feminine lead Chen Xuanyu has two short films starring her that were consecutively shortlisted for the Festival de Cannes, one of which won the Golden Palm for Best Short Film, which makes the audience more expectant of her debut feature film. Lin Zixi was also the recipient of the 19th SIFF Asian New Talent Award for Best Actress. All of them breathed new life into the characters in the film.

When he participated in the 9th BJIFF Project Pitches section, the project had just been roughly edited, leaving the post-production stages to be completed, such as color grading, lighting, and dubbing, according to Director Gao Ming. After showing the progress and status of the project at the Project Pitching activities, Gao received encouraging feedback that gave him a boost in the confidence to produce the film. The film, which had been polished for years, lived up to expectations by achieving great success in several international film festivals, such as the winning of Grand Prize in the International Competition section of the 21st Jeonju International Film Festival, as well as the selection for the Bright Future section of the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Feature Film Competition section of the 14th FIRST International Film Festival, and the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language) section of the 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival. In 2020, the film returned to the 10th BJIFF and competed in the Out-of-Competition section, receiving attention and critical acclaim from the audience.

Recalling the scene when the project Damp Season was pitched at the Project Pitches, producer Wang Lei stated that the comments of Guan Hu, president of the Final Round Jury, impressed him most – “Project Pitches should provide more support for arthouse films like Damp Season.” Mr. Guan’s encouragement and the expanded exposure of the project by the Project Pitches helped receive increased attention to Damp Season from the industry. “The exposure of our project at the BJIFF mattered to us. After participating in the Project Pitches, we finished the film and participated in the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam in early 2020, where the film was shortlisted for the Bright Future section,” said Mr. Wang. In 2021, Wang participated in the 11th edition of Project Pitches with his WIP project, One and Four, which won the Most Investment Value Project Award, the Most Market Focus Award, and the Musical Work Licensing Service Award sponsored by Universal Music, and later was shortlisted for the Competition section of the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival. This year, Wang returns to the Project Pitches with a new project, hoping to win another success.

Damp Season will be released nationwide on June 24. Come and see the intertwined, ambiguous sentiments in a damp season and regain our lost love. Stay tuned!

The BJIFF Project Pitches expects more young filmmakers to join us and turn stories into films! For more details, please visit the official website of the BJIFF: www.bjiff.com.

Stay tuned and join us!

Cooperative Consultation: Project Pitches of the Beijing International Film Festival – Beijing Film Market 

E-mail: projectpitches@bjiff.com

Tel: +86 15510010851, +86 18500377391