The Producers
Huang Ji - Director
Born and raised in Hunan Province, China. She studied screenwriting in Beijing Film Academy during 2003-2007. She directed her first documentary, UNDERGROUND, in 2005. This film was later been preserved at the University of Hong Kong. In 2009, she directed her first short film, THE WARMTH OF ORANGE PEEL, which was selected by the Generation program of the 60th Berlinale. Her feature directorial debut, EGG AND STONE, was shot in her hometown in 2011 working with all non-professional actors. This film was world-premiered at 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam and won the Hivos Tiger Awards. And won the Grand Prix of International Film Festival "Zerkalo" Named After Andrei Tarkovsky. 2013, her documentary film TRACE was screened at Hong Kong International Film Festival Documentary Competition, which portrayed her Japanese husband Ryuji Otsuka and daughter in a period of life disturbed by the Senkaku Islands dispute. In 2017, her second feature film THE FOOLISH BIRD won the 67th Berlin International Film Festival Special Mention of Generation 14plus international Jury.
Ryuji Otsuka - Director
Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1972, he began his career making documentaries for Japanese television. In 2005 he relocated to China where he began making his own films. His middle length feature film debut LINGLING’S GARDEN won the Audience Award at the Cologne Chinese Film Festival.
He has also worked as a cinematographer on films including THE WARMTH OF ORANGE PEEL and EGG AND STONE by Huang Ji, also JUDGE by Liu Jie and WHEN NIGHT FALLS, A Family Tour by Ying Liang. His style was described by IFFR as “The beautifully framed, conscious choice of camerawork is relevant to storytelling, and unveils human secrets” In 2013, he co-directed the documentary TRACE and he subsequently made his first documentary BEIJING ANTS as a solo director and, in 2015, participated in Berlinale Talents. In 2017, his first feature film THE FOOLISH BIRD won the 67th Berlin International Film Festival Special Mention of Generation 14plus international Jury.
Winter is about to begin in a small town in Southern China, and sixteen year old Lynn, left to be raised by her grandparents, finds herself longing for love. Feeling out of place in the world, Lynn starts selling stolen phones, and as she loses contact with her best friend, Lynn finds solace in Dawei, a police inspector’s son. But when her first sexual experience turns into a cruel one, Lynn finds her already unstable world turned upside down.
67th Berlin International Film Festival - Special Mention of Generation 14plus international Jury