Merry Christmas from the CVF team!

After an amazing 2018, including our biggest and most successful edition yet back in May, the CVF team are looking ahead to 2019, with our popular Chinese New Year programme returning to BFI Southbank at the end of January, CVF 2019 in May, and more events planned throughout the coming year. 

Celebrate The Year of the Pig with CVF at BFI Southbank with a specially curated selection of the very best in recent Chinese language cinema!
 

Showcasing some of the very best of recent Chinese language cinema, the award-winning films are a mix of documentaries and fiction and include the UK Premieres of the Hong Kong box office hit Men on the Dragon, with director and cast Q&A (tbc), and the documentary A Way Out, and the London Premiere of the doc Turtle Rock. The entertaining and challenging films cover a wide range of subjects, from middle-aged men fighting back against their troubles through dragon boat racing, to the lives of villagers in a remote mountain village in China and the moving stories of three Chinese teenagers growing up in different economic and social environments.
 

CVF’s 2019 Chinese New programme is part of the wider Chinese Art Now festival, the first arts festival in the UK dedicated to British-Chinese performance and culture, which runs from 19th January to 2nd February 2019 – click here for more information.
 

A heartfelt, feel-good blockbuster Hong Kong comedy about a group of middle-aged men who rediscover their lust for life - followed by Q&A with director Sunny Chan, star Tony Tsz-Tung Wu and other cast members TBC. 

UK Premiere + Q&A + drinks reception
January 25, 2019
6:20 pm
BFI Southbank, NFT1

Four telecoms engineers join a dragon boat team to avoid layoffs and end up finding out a lot about themselves in the process. Screenwriter Sunny Chan’s directorial debut is a well-observed comedy-drama with much to say about men of a certain age facing all sorts of mid-life crises. From infidelity and forgotten dreams to unrequited love and nagging families, the only thing that’s safe seems to be a pair of elusive Andy Lau concert tickets.

This slothful band of loveable losers, played by a fine cast led by Francis Ng, soon find it’s not about winning the race but how you take part, in an underdog sports drama that’s not really about sports at all. It’s deservedly been a local hit on its release, but audiences everywhere will find much to connect to in one of the most enjoyable Hong Kong comedies of recent years.

This new documentary charts the lives, hopes and fears of three Chinese teenagers from contrasting social backgrounds.

UK Premiere
January 23, 2019
20:30 pm
BFI Southbank, NFT3

A Way Out follows the lives of three young students from Beijing, a city in Hubei and a countryside village in Gansu over the course of six years (2009 to 2015). For these youths from different family backgrounds, succeeding in school and fulfilling family expectations are not a guarantee for happiness.

As they navigate the school system with difficulty, they develop an awareness that education does not always lead to the ‘way out’ they hoped for. They nonetheless share their aspirations and struggles with the camera, allowing us to feel some intimacy with the young characters as they walk towards adulthood.

A fascinating documentary about a small village in a mountainous region of China.

The remote Chinese village of Turtle Rock, named after a local rock formation that resembles a giant turtle, has been home to just seven families who share four surnames for almost a century and who moved there after fleeing war. Filmed delicately from afar in stunning black and white, this beautiful observational documentary witnesses to the residents as they weather the four seasons. Director Xiao Xiao’s grandmother was one of the first people to be born in Turtle Rock, and the fact that he grew up in the village allows him to get close to the inhabitants as they go about their daily lives in poetic fashion.

Chinese Visual Festival (華語視像藝術節 CVF) is delighted to launch its Call for Entries for the 2019 edition. Established as a major cultural event, CVF has been bringing to the UK the best in contemporary Chinese language film and art since 2011, having worked in the past with a long list of distinguished artists and directors including Jia Zhangke, Pema Tseden, Wu Wuna, Zhou Hao, Cao Fei and others. The festival is hosted by BFI Southbank, the leading repertory cinema in the UK, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films and operated by the British Film Institute, and Kings College London, one of the world's leading research and teaching universities based in the heart of London, with other screenings held around the UK and throughout the year. 

華語視像藝術節(英國)現正式向所有華語導演及藝術家徵集第九屆藝術節影像作品。 每年一度在倫敦舉行的華語視像藝術節創辦於 2011 年，主要展示當代華語影片和藝術 作品，並曾邀請眾多著名導演及藝術家參加，致力於在海外宣傳推廣華語原創作品。 藝術節持續兩週左右時間，透過此期間多場不同類型的活動，以新鮮獨特的方式向海 外觀眾展示當今華語世界現狀與百態。

There is no restriction on the types of moving images that will be accepted, including documentaries, feature films, short films, animation and experimental works. As a leading event promoting Chinese language creativity, we will only accept entries from filmmakers and artists who are citizens and residents of the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as members of Chinese communities around the world.

本屆影像作品的徵集不限題材與形式，歡迎紀錄片、劇情片、短片動畫等各種類型的 影片報名。歷經前八屆影片與藝術對話的展示形式，第九屆華語視像藝術節希望繼續 推動電影與藝術之間的跨界互動，歡迎跨越電影與藝術界限作品。作為一個在海外推 廣華語創意的活動，我們歡迎全球華語導演和藝術家報名。

The festival will take place in May 2019, with screenings at the British Film Institute Southbank, King’s College London and commercial cinemas around London and the rest of the UK.

第九屆華語視像藝術節將由英国电影学会與英國著名學府倫敦大學國王學院聯合主辦，擬於 2019 年 5 月在倫敦市中心舉行。

The deadline for submissions is 31st December 2018.

作品報名截止日期為 2018 年 12 月 31 日。