Panorama
One and Four, a WIP Submitted to the 11th BJIFF Project Pitches, Will be Released in Theaters on November 1, Presenting a Suspense About Exploration of Humanity Boundaries
One and Four, winner of the Most Investment Value Project Award and Most Marketable Focus Award at the 11th BJIFF Project Pitches, is announced to be released in theaters nationwide on November 1, 2023. The film was well received at the final round of the 11th BJIFF Project Pitches, and the final-round jury spoke highly of it, “It’s a refreshing film with precise genre, dynamic, composed and sophisticated audiovisual presentation, and ‘poetic wilderness’ aesthetics, calmly building up a metaphor for survival in the ice and snow. The film demonstrates stunning industrialized cinematic attributes on controlled budget.”
Award presentation to One and Four
This year, Jigme Trinley, a new-generation Tibetan director, brought his film One and Four to the 13th BJIFF Beijing Film Panorama, and attended the meet-and-greet with guests from the industry. A lively discussion was conducted on the site, during which the audience actively put forward questions regarding portrait of characters, artistic aesthetics and unreliable narration among other technical aspects to the cast & crew, and expressed their favor for the film.
Meet-and-greet
As a major literary and artistic creation project funded by the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation, One and Four is adapted based on the same-title novel by Jiangyang Cairang with Hou Keming as executive producer, Pema Tseden as producer, Jigme Trinley as screenwriter and director, Wang Lei as producer, Ding Ke as music composer (The Long Season), Lv Songye as cinematographer (Why Try to Change Me Now), Li Danfeng as sound designer (Long Day’s Journey Into Night) and starring Jinpa, Wang Zheng, Dargye Tenzin, Kunde and Tsemdo.
It’s about a case caused by wilderness poaching, in which four characters with evil intentions are hard to tell from one another. A blizzard is coming and a poaching case is to be solved. What kind of choices would they make as desire grows? The film is full of suspense and impacts. Just as acclaimed by numerous netizens, “It’s amazing. Fisheye lens shot, shocking sound effects, well-paced performance and natural Tibetan features.”
Trailer of One and Four
|Poacher hunting in the blizzard and truth seeking in the maze of lies
Set in the snowy forest in the wilderness, a forest ranger’s cabin is visited by three uninvited guests while the blizzard is coming, leading to a poaching case to be solved. A self-claimed forestry policeman (Wang Zheng) visits the cabin of the forest ranger Sangyue (Jinpa), hides in the cabin and arrests Kunbo (Kunde), his fellow villager and alleged poaching handler. Before Sangyue pulls himself together from the shocking news, another armed man (Dargye Tenzin) barges in, claiming that he’s the real policeman. Everything becomes confusing and intentions to kill are lurking in the forest...
The trailer posted today features shocking shots that imply violence and anxiety, mutual deception in the blizzard and four characters with evil intentions suspicious of one another. With dangers lurking all around, it’s hard to tell who are kind or evil, or discern right from wrong. The poster released at the same time highlights its unique aesthetics. The black and white tone sets off stress and depression. There is a red brush covering a stag eye in the center with one gun aiming at another on the left and right. The bright and dark contrast indicates conspiracy and perils lurking in the poacher hunting.
Poster of One and Four
|Well-rated crime masterpiece with meticulously interwoven plots
One and Four is of high quality and good ratings. It won the Best New Director and Best Cinematography at the 16th Asian Film Awards; it was nominated for the Tokyo Grand Prix in the competition section of the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival; it won the Best Narrative Feature, Best Director and Best Performance at the 16th FIRST International Film Festival (FIFF); it was nominated for the Feature Section of the 25th Fantasia International Film Festival, Canada, Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language) under the Firebird Awards of the 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF46), and CineCina Selections of New York Asian Film Festival.
In addition, the meticulously interwoven and danger-ridden plots, intensive visual shocks create immersive viewing experience for the audience, enabling them to witness kindness and evil of humanity. As a featured view goes, “It’s a masterpiece. Short and concise, the film is ultimately well structured with stunning cinematographer, neat and clean storyline”; “It’s sophisticated and smooth. A perfect artistic and commercial combination. It’s allegorical. The half revealing ending lingers on.”
Still of One and Four
One and Four is presented by Shanghai Maoyan Pictures Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Niubizi Pictures Co., Ltd., Qinghai Manishi Pictures Co., Ltd., iQIYI Motion Pictures (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Beijing Siaiweiye Cultural Media Co., Ltd., Chengdu Qianyi Pictures Co., Ltd., and Haikou Redaojingyu Film Culture Communication Co., Ltd. The film is to be opening in theaters nationwide on November 1. Stay tuned!