Xu Haofeng's new kung fu film makes mark at festivals

Xu Haofeng has extended his expertise in Chinese martial arts to his filmmaking career. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]

Xu Haofeng doesn't look like a martial artist. He wears black-rimmed glasses and speaks softly. But he is indeed a veteran kung fu practitioner - and filmmaker.

In a hallway at the Beijing Film Academy, where Xu also teaches filmmaking, he showed China Daily the skills needed to use a particular sword in his latest movie, The Hidden Sword.

The film won the best artistic contribution award at this year's Montreal World Film Festival on Sept 4, making Xu the first Chinese from the mainland to claim the honor.

More recently, Xu received acclaim at the Lychee Film Festival in Barcelona, where a retrospective of his earlier three films was shown.

A documentary on The Hidden Sword about him personally coaching performers in kung fu for the film was also screened there.

The documentary can be viewed on Chinese streaming sites. A release date for the feature film on the Chinese mainland has yet to be announced.

"Those who are curious about my martial arts skills will get their answers from the documentary," says the 44-year-old director.

His earlier movies in the series - The Sword Identity (2011), The Final Master (2015) and Judge Archer (2016) - have all been adapted from his own novels. He choreographed the stunts.

Xu also prefers to use nonaction actors and actresses, and to coach them with his own methods.