Chinese filmmaker Zhong Kaifeng formally introduced himself to the world at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Saturday night, picking up the main Golden Goblet award for his debut, Atlantic Rhapsody.
For the Golden Goblet jury — led by Hong Kong star Tony Leung Chiu-wai — the film is a “uniquely compelling visual experience.” For the 29-year-old Zhong, the story of a young man from northern China searching for meaning in life is a sign.
“I want to say that Atlantic is not a definition, it does not provide answers — but today it seems to have given me an answer, and that answer is to persist, to love, to work hard, and then to believe,” he said.
And for SIFF itself, the win was a fitting end to a festival that set out with the aim of putting young talent front and center. Zhong’s work is a case in point, a film the jury said “captivated and impressed” them with its “bold experimental approach [that] explores the absurdity of human life” — and the festival will hope it has unearthed a new voice in Chinese cinema. Another exciting emerging talent was fittingly revealed in SIFF’s Asian New Talent awards, too, when first-timer Gong Yiwen won for her heartwarming coming-of-age drama Her First Taste, a film that emerged from the SIFF Project initiative for young filmmakers.
