The Dimension aims to introduce avant-garde films that challenge film traditions and experiment with cinematic language, offer a platform for showcasing and exchanges for auteurs in their own class, and invite the audience to explore the brand new boundaries for cinema with an open mindset. 

Before we realized it, it’s been five years since the inception of the Dimension. The annual adventure disrupts conventional definition of the virtual and real, individual and collective, past and future, and continues to enrich and stretch our understanding of film. 

This year, the section selects 9 films as below and invites the audience to join the trip towards infinite possibilities.

Imagine aliens visit the Earth and a hippo instead of human beings welcomes and guides them. What does our civilization look like in hippo’s eyes? Directed by Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, winner of the Silver Bear - Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival, the intriguing film starts with jungles and swamps in the Americas from air, and continues with the narrative by hippo Pepe that ignores perception of time, wandering between individual and collective memories. How would a hippo depict survival and death if it could speak?

　　Out of Season 4K

It’s the 10th feature film by Stéphane Brizé, and a nominee for the competition section of the Venice International Film Festival. Being known for extremely realistic observational feature films, such as The Measure of a Man and At War, Brizé excels at romance, too. H examines love under microscope in the film Out of Season, and digs into the very essence of an intimate relationship with his consistent subtlety and sincerity. 

Guillaume Canet and Alba Rohrwacher play a former couple that broke up 15 years ago. And they run into each other by chance during a thalasso trip in northern France. They couldn’t help looking back, and wondering the decisive moment of breakup and if they’d have lived a life together 

　　She Is Conann

Conann, a hero in the Celtic mythology, is subversively portrayed by director Bertrand Mandico as a character with different looks in different lives through various eras. It tells the story of savage killing in the critical zone of civilization. The film is inspired by a stage play that failed to be opening in theaters. Renowned for eccentric audio-visual style, Mandico completed the shooting on 35mm film in studio within five weeks, and produced a mega mixture of fantasy, the wicked, bloodshed violence, thriller, experiment and cult without any CG. The unique music, including his favorite Bach pieces and legendary electronic duo Daft Punk that inspired the film, connects the classical and present as well as the divine and insanity through the sense of hearing.

　　A Traveler’s Needs

The film marks the third collaboration between Hong Sang-soo and Isabelle Huppert after In Another Country and Claire’s Camera, and won the Silver Bear - Grand Jury Prize in competition at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival. Following classic Hong’s style, the film presents serene streets in the Republic of Korea, slowly unfolding story, and roam-like conversations to the audience. And it’s irresistible as always. It seeks to depict a type of language-free communication and absolute command of truth through the character played by Isabelle Huppert. Let’s have a makgeolli with Isabelle Huppert, and find truth of life in the story.

　　Grace

A father and his daughter with a rusty projector drive an old van all the way north across the countryside and wilderness in Russia. They are like a portable cinema and carrier of memory. There are few lines in the film, but the cinematography keeps our eyes busy. The nostalgic frames, and bleak yet magnificent view become the storyteller. The stunning debut was nominated for the Golden Camera Award at the Festival de Cannes. As Jury President Ruben Östlund commented, the film pays tribute to the power of cinema as collective experience.

　　Retake

An impressive film by young Japanese director Kota Nakano. A group of high school students make a film in summer. The youth, love and friendship of teenagers, as well as creativity, sensitivity and fragility are kept via camera in a space, where time stands still. The film cleverly combines passion about cinema and filmmaking process, creates a seemingly organic mixture of story, cast, editing and music, cues cut and shoots another take. Life is just like film shooting, where new things keep happening and new ideas continue to pop up. Next take always differs.

　　A Romantic Fragment

Yang Pingdao never stops at storytelling in his feature films, from the very first E Huang Mountain to My Dear Friend, A Yang Pingdao Film and latest A Romantic Fragment. Based on the narrative structure of storytelling, he is committed to pushing the boundaries for the openness of film script. Such a creative intention sure provokes controversies. The film continues the strong “meta film” style of A Yang Pingdao Film. In the framework of a “triangle love story” in mountain forest, it succeeds in making a richly layered media experiment that challenges the viewing experience. It’s a courageous attempt despite knowing the risks.

　　The Human Surge 3

There is no need to introduce the storyline of the film. What the director, Eduardo Williams from Argentina, truly cares about is observation in flow, adventures at will and intricate ties between humans. He won the Golden Leopard in the Concorso Cineasti del presente section at the Locarno Film Festival for The Human Surge. The unconventional director forges towards the unknown with The Human Surge 3, a sequel without continuity of the previous.

Shootings took place in Sri Lanka, Peru, and Taiwan, China. It’s characteristic of new world cinematic style. What makes the film even broader than the geographical space is the 360-degree panoramic shooting with a set of 8 cameras. Such a camera system is often used for VR production. The application definitely breaks limits of view frame, and ensures unprecedentedly intuitively challenging but stunning visual experience for the audience that enjoy the film in cinema.

　　Dance Still

Young Dongsi and Shitiao idle about alleys in Beijing. They start looking around because of an ad with a big reward for a “missing pigeon”. The film shooting process is similar to the story—free and loose from start to end. But the ease and randomness exactly show the inner world of young hipsters, and strike resemblance between the story and behind scenes. Unanticipatedly, the film won the Fei Mu Awards · Jury Award and Youth Jury Awards · Special Mention at the 7th Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival (PYIFF), setting an example for low-budget success by young directors.

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In case of any changes to the film lineup, please refer to the actual official screening schedule. Stay tuned for more exciting content about the Beijing Film Panorama.