West Border

西渡

China | 94min | Debut Feature | Drama, Fantasy, Road

Director: Luo Yan

Screenwriter: Luo Yan

Executive Producer: Li Yu, Fang Li

Producer: Chen Yirong, Xiao Qiancao, Yang Feifei

Cinematographer: Zhao Longlong

Editor: Zhang Zhongchen, HAMM SUNG WON

Art Director: Liu Qiang

Sound: Long Xiaozhu, Zhang Jinyan

Music: Chen Ruotong

Starring: Pan Binlong, Chloe Maayan, Liang Jingdong, Huang Zixing, Zhang Benyu, Li Xiaochuan

导演：罗艳

编剧：罗艳

监制：李玉、方励

制片人：陈一荣、肖乾操、杨菲菲

摄影指导：赵龙龙

剪辑：张中臣、咸盛元

美术指导：刘强

声音：龙筱竹、张金岩

音乐：陈若彤

主演：潘斌龙、曾美慧孜、梁景东、黄子星、张本煜、李晓川

Synopsis

In 1999, rumors of the impending apocalypse spread. In a small county town on the southwest border of China, a plague was spreading. In County Erewhon, a red motorcycle with a corpse on it was discovered. Police officer Lao Liang was tasked with transporting the motorcycle to the neighboring County Nevaeh. Little did he know, a mysterious woman with murderous intent was tailing him.

Meanwhile, in County Nevaeh, a man named Lao Wu was riding a red motorcycle, trying to evade his pursuers. He was searching for his missing daughter. Suddenly, a girl named Taozi appeared, claiming to be Lao Wu's daughter. There was an indescribable and inexplicable affection between Taozi and Lao Wu. Faced with this perplexing girl, Lao Wu was unsure which direction his life should take.

As they each reached their destinations, would they uncover the truth they were seeking?

Festival&Award

Director's Note

In this Möbius strip-like film, the two fictional place names, "Nevaeh" and "Erewhon," symbolize life and death, where the characters' destinies cyclically intertwine between the two. In this manner, seemingly unrelated stories are intricately connected, converging towards the post-war traumas of humanity. The father searching for his daughter and the police officer searching for himself are both in pursuit of the truth.

However, in a world with countless notions of "rightness," lurking behind them are unknown errors that ultimately become defined as the truth. The film is rooted in reality but presented through a fantastical lens. I aim to blend the metaphors and imagination found in Latin American literature with the aesthetics and techniques of cult cinema, enhancing the enigmatic and perilous nature of this specific "border" while evoking a sense of anguish and introspection. Against the backdrop of the rumors that arise in the southwestern border of China at the turn of the century, the "truth" and the "fantasy" remain concealed within the endless tropical forest.

LUO Yan

Luo Yan graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in China. She was the line producer and planner of the film “The Looming Storm” (2017). The film won the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival.

"West Border" is her first feature as a screenwriter and director.