Flaming Cloud
三贵情史
China | 2023 | 107min | Debut Feature | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Director: Siyi Liu
Screenwriter: Siyi Liu, Emily Qiu
Executive Producer: Shaohong Li, Chen Yao
Producer: Jia Fu
Cinematographer: Florian J. E. Zinke[Germany]
Editor: Yifan Zhang, Yunjie Zhang
Art Director: Fengyi Zhang
Costume Designer: Xiaoxi Yu
Sound: Jiang Wu
Music: Wei Ding
Starring:
Xianxu Hu, Chen Yao, Ye Zhou, Yiran Zhou, Yunlong Zheng, Cici Xiang, Xue Qing, Yimu Sun
导演:刘斯逸
编剧:刘斯逸、邱玉洁
监制:李少红、姚晨
总制片人:付佳
制片人:马焱洁
摄影指导:陆一帆[德国]
剪辑指导:张一凡、张蕴婕
美术指导:张逢意
造型指导 :于晓溪
声音指导:吴江
音乐:丁薇
主演 :胡先煦、姚晨、周也、周依然 、郑云龙、项偞婧、秦雪、孙亦沐
Trailer
Synopsis
Above the clouds lies a celestial casino where the Gods of heaven bet on the sorrows and joys of Earth for their own amusement. The Gods choose a newborn baby boy, Wang Sangui, and curse him with a strange affliction: everything he kisses falls into a deep slumber, and only true love can break the spell. Sangui embarks on a solitary journey to White Stone City, where he grows into adulthood and meets three women who alter his fate: Yuyu, who dreams of becoming a princess; "The Witch," a recluse who resides in an abandoned house; and Ting Ting, Sangui's childhood sweetheart. Along his quest to break the curse, Sangui uncovers the dark secret of the seemingly peaceful White Stone City.
Festival&Award
New York Asian Film Festival 2023
Uncaged Competition-Special Mention
27th Fantasia International Film Festival 2023
Official Selection
International Film Festival of India 2023
Official Selection
Director's Note
Seven years ago, there was a time when I often had insomnia and tried all sorts of methods to no avail. One night when I couldn't sleep again, staring at the ceiling in despair, my mind inexplicably went to the person I envied most in the world at the moment - Sleeping Beauty. If a prince were to come through the window and rescue me, I would hope that his kiss would have the exact opposite effect - to put me to sleep immediately.
For a long time, I had wanted to tell a fairy tale, and this idea of a kiss gave me inspiration. So, I gave the boy in the story, Sangui, a curse: anything he kissed would immediately fall into a deep sleep unless he kissed true love. I still chose to use the most traditional settings in fairy tales: curses and true love.
We can all sense the outdated and awkward nature of the term "true love" in contemporary contexts, where we often use it to represent a negative connotation of naive and hesitant love. Fairy tales are the same, and we joke that we "are too old to believe in them". However, "true love" is actually a term invented by us humans, and it embodies our purest, most romantic longing and imagination about pure emotions in the medium of fairy tales.
So, for me, fairy tales about true love are always worth telling. We already have the old ones, the ones we know well, but I want to continue telling a new one.
LIU Siyi
Director and writer, LIU Siyi has studied Media and Visual Arts in Tong Ji University and Film Production in Vancouver Film School. Her short film Cadence was selected by 13th China Independent Film Festival. Flaming Cloud is her debut feature film. The project is the TOP 5 project in 4th CFDG China Youth Film Director Support Program and has won ‘The most promising director’, ‘Genre Selection’ and ‘Producers Jointly Promote Project’ prizes in China Golden Rooster Film Project Market.