These are twelve films you shouldn’t miss at the Odyssey: A Chinese Cinema Season which is taking place in selected cinemas across UK and online until June 30, 2023.

Note: all the films in this list are available online at: https://www.odysseychinesecinema.uk/

-Feature Films-

Studying in Hong Kong but living in Shenzhen (the port city of Mainland China), Peipei has spent 16 years in her life travelling between these two cities. To realize the dream of seeing snow in Japan with her bestie, Peipei joins a smuggling gang and uses her student identity to smuggle iPhones from Hong Kong to Mainland. Her family life and friendships begin to fall apart. The daily life of Peipei starts to get out of control. (Odyssey 2023)

Trailer:

Based on a shocking case in real life, a young man partners with his friend to murder and dismember his parents. Pleading not guilty to the crime, defense attorneys face each other as nine jurors grapple with the truth. (Odyssey 2023)

Trailer:

-Short Films-

In order to ski the best fresh powder, five guys set out an epic adventure, first flying, then driving all the way across Northwest China until they came to Altay, the birthplace for human skiing. Here, together with Tuvans on fur skis, their adventure has just begun… (Odyssey 2023)

Trailer:

When the summer is coming to an end, the two children in the mountain village primary school have their own different expectations and sadness. How far is the future? Is it as long as the road to the city? (Odyssey 2023)

Peter Foo never saw his father since 1946, when he was 2 years old. 50 years later, Peter found out that his father was a Chinese sailor recruited by British Merchant Navy during the WWII. In 1946, British government secretly repatriated almost all Chinese sailors in Liverpool, and none of their families were told. His father was one of those approximately 20.000 sailors. Peter has kept asking for an apology from the government for more than 15 years. After this long exhausting journey with no result, a great sense of loss ruins his life. (Odyssey 2023)

The story takes place on May 20th, which is not only the 24 solar terms, but also 520 Valentine’s Day.Before the children left their grandmother and their hometown, they express their feelings to their crush and their family.After a light rain, everyone left empty-handed.However, they have a new direction and confidence in the face of the impending split family and turbulent life, and they are relieved and untangled their own heart knots and contradictions,silently pray and wish each other well. (Odyssey 2023)

Trailer:

Ho-yin (Lam Sen) is a 24-year-old illustrator who lives alone since losing his mother. One day, his uncle offers him a delivery van so he can start a business. When he learns to drive, he meets his instructor Lok-ying (Cecilia Yip Tung), who was his mother’s playmate when they were young… (Odyssey 2023)

In recent years, the Shanghai municipal government has proposed to build ‘five new cities’ with the goal of providing high-quality medical conditions and educational resources to new immigrants. As these cities develop, they will also feature abundant supporting facilities, including urban sub-centers that will create a complex urban structure with different emotional responses from the residents. (Odyssey 2023)

Trailer:

Coral reefs are the “rainforests” of the ocean floor, sheltering nearly a quarter of all marine life. And now, corals are facing bleaching, disappearing, and dying. Scientists predict that if the development continues, coral may completely disappear from the earth by 2050! In the summer of 2019, ocean explorer DaDa, on behalf of China’s local coral conservation organization, Qianai, went to Camiguin in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and other places to visit fellow coral conservationists around the world and record them with videos. (Odyssey 2023)

The life stories of wild pandas and their symbiotic partner animals, the stories of glaciers and water sources, Wanglang’s characteristic wild orchids, and the kingdom of pheasants in the Wanglang National Nature Reserve in the Minshan Mountains show, through these most wonderful individual details, the most typical natural environment and species stories of Wanglang, Sichuan, and the significance of these natural elements for human survival. (Odyssey 2023)

Kuang Houming worked as a village secretary in Shiluo Village on the depth of mountain for more than 30 years, leading the local people to construct water and electricity to the village, and to build dozens of kilometers road on the cliff. He developed industries for villagers and set up mutual funds with government funds to help the whole village get rid of poverty. He let the people who live on the depth mountain catch the hope and future, and created a miracle for Shiluo.He is regarded as “master”for the villagers. (Odyssey 2023)

After the epidemic in Shanghai, the city after opening up has regained its former atmosphere. When I went out, I found that there was almost no trace of the closure of the city for two months. People were “rebellious” to look for the so-called freedom, and such freedom was just to forget those traces. (Odyssey 2023)

Trailer:

For more information, please visit: https://www.odysseychinesecinema.uk/