Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired Chinese actor-turned-director Zu Feng’s feature debut “Summer of Changsha” which will world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard and will vie for the Camera d’Or award.
A popular Chinese actor, Feng previously starred in Lou Ye’s “Mystery” which played at Cannes in 2012 and in the TV series “Lurk.”
The crime film stars Feng as A Bin, a police detective in Changsha, who meets a mysterious female surgeon, Li Xue, during the investigation of a bizarre murder case. As they get to know each other, A Bin falls for Li Xue, while both are struggling with their own love stories and sins. The film was produced by Rui Li from Gootime Media Co.
“Summer of Changsha” marks Indie Sales’s first acquisition of a Chinese film, said Simon Gabriele, Indie Sales acquisitions and sales manager.
“We’ve always been attentive observers of China’s vivid movie industry but never had the chance to work with a Chinese film before,” said Gabriele, who described “Summer of Changsha” as a “very intimate and accurate portray of modern China through the prism of crime film.”
Indie Sales also recently acquired Lav Diaz’s black and white sci-fi film “The Halt” which is set in in Filipino capital Manila in 2034 and will unspool at Directors’ Fortnight. Indie Sales’s slate at Cannes also includes Rémi Chayé’s animated film “Calamity – The Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary,” the French helmer’s follow up to his critically acclaimed feature debut “Long Way North.”