About the Director

Geng Jun, from Heilongjiang, China, is a self-taught filmmaker based in Beijing. His works include Hawthorn (2002), Diary in Bulk (2003), Barbecue (2004), Youth (2008), Airplane (2012), and The Hammer and the Sickle Are Sleeping (2013).

He gained international recognition with Free and Easy (2016), winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award at Sundance and four Golden Horse nominations. His latest feature, Manchurian Tiger (2021), won Best Feature at the Shanghai International Film Festival and opened the Made in China Festival in 2023.

Director's Statement

February 2020, Hegang, Heilongjiang Province, during the epidemic. I was stuck at home. I could only go out at night after nine, only then I could have some fresh air and take a walk. The street was empty. After walking for a long time, I met a person coming towards me, when I was dozens of meters away from him, I would pinch the aluminum sheet in the mask on my nose, hold my breath, and walk out of a maximum arc away from this person. He was a middle-aged male, he accelerated his pace and almost ran to pass me, I tried my best to hold my breath… Then I walked for a long time, met another person, I pinched the aluminum sheet in the mask on my nose and held my breath, walked out of a maximum arc away from him (her).

Fear grips everyone. Fear inspires weakness, unleashes suspicion, it breeds malice and creates fragmentation. In April 2020, I began to have the idea of writing this screenplay, which is the result of emotional and inner guidance. I wanted to write a story about love. Love can overcome fear, love can make people look up to each other, be close to each other, and embrace each other. I wanted to make a story about people getting close, about people admiring each other, about warm embraces. This was the beginning of Bel Ami.