BAI TA ZHI GUANG / THE SHADOWLESS TOWER

Gu Wentong, a middle-aged food critic, is drifting through the eateries of vibrant Beijing with his younger photographer colleague Oyang. A divorcé with a 6-year-old daughter and estranged from his father for decades, he is looking for a new perspective on life while reconsidering his failings as a father, a son, and a lover. Meanwhile, he begins a relationship with a younger colleague…

LU DŽANG / ZHANG LU

Zhang Lu belongs to the third generation of a Chinese Korean family. Before embarking by accident (He bet with a fellow professor that to make films was an easy endeavour that even he could carry out) in film directing, he was a writer and a professor of Chinese Literature at the Yanbian University. His films, since his very first short film presented in Venice Eleven (2001) premiered all in major film festivals. Among others: Tang Poetry (2003) Locarno, Grain in Ear (2005) Cannes, Gyeongju (2014) Locarno, A Quiet Dream (2016) Busan, Fukuoka (2019) Berlin, Yanagawa (2021) Tallin and The Shadowless Tower (2023) in competition in Berlin.

 

Reveiws:

A poignant drama of people seeking a connection in contemporary Beijing (...) this tender film is also a profound meditation on what unites and divides people.

Lee Marshall, Screendaily