Sydney Film Festival open with focus on China

Cast members Ni Ni (L) and Jing Boran attend the premiere of film "Up in the Wind" in Beijing on December 26, 2013. The movie opens on December 31. [Photo/xinhuanet.com/ent]

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Since 2007 Kraicer has been a programmer at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and has worked as a consultant for the Venice, Udine, Dubai, and Rotterdam film festivals, he told Xinhua the SFF's Focus on China program tries to bring together as dispirate and eclectic a collection of Chinese modern cinema as possible.

"We offer the glossy commercial hit Up in the Wind's pointed examination of middle-class anxieties; homespun indie doc Beijing Ants'ground-level view of marginal urban existence; Dancing in the Room's romantic but blackly comic take on youthful boredom; Mothers' nuanced look at bureaucracy; Lake August's starkly beautiful portrait of death and love in the hinterlands; and 'Til Madness Do Us Part's epic ode to passions that thrive in the remotest corners of the state," Kraicer told Xinhua.

"In our official competition, the noir-mystery-arthouse mash-up of passion and murder in Black Coal Thin Ice landed it the prestigious Golden Bear at the Berlinale. Chinese cinema offers unlimited delights: its rebels, ghosts and romantics come to life through its screens to our imaginations."

Former SFF Director Lynden Barber said "The last couple of Sydney film fests have shown 'hybrid' documentaries -- mixing reality with fictional techniques -- to be one of the most exciting trends in filmmaking."

"This year the tendency gets major official recognition with the gala opening night and official competition slot given to this acclaimed UK film about Nick Cave, made by artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard with the singer-writer's cooperation, and imagining his '20,000th day on earth',"Barber said.

The SFF also presents 12 films that vie for the official competition, a respected international honor that awards a 60,000 Australian dollars cash prize.