5TH EDITION ★ 1 - 24 MARCH 2024 ★ GHENT
Soul Mate 七月与安生
Derek Tsang
2016
After screening Derek Tsang's 'Better Days' in 2022, Made in China Festival had to show his debut film 'Soul Mate' this edition.
Golden Horse Awards 2016 - Best Actress
Hong Kong Film Awards 2017 - 12 Nominations
Set in the city, Soul Mate centers on a love-triangle between two women and one man. Due to a twist of fate, the two high school best friends fall in love with the same man, planting the seeds of tragedy. The story chronicles the coming of age journey of two very different young women, who choose different paths in life. July and Ansen are flip sides of the same coin: one is calm like water and the other is passionate like fire. Although they endure the rites of passage together, from youth to adulthood, their friendship may only persist in the form of a long goodbye, until they part forever.
"Soul Mate is a fantastic time-spanning drama and an endearing love-letter to friendship with two excellent performances from Zhou and Ma, and assured direction from Tsang that is sure to make the audience shed a few tears."
Harris Dang, Their Own League
About the Director
Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung (曾國祥; born 8 November 1979) is a Hong Kong film director and actor. The son of actor Eric Tsang, Tsang got his start in the Hong Kong film industry working for director Peter Chan Ho-Sun after graduating from the University of Toronto Scarborough in 2001. He made his acting debut in Men Suddenly in Black (2003) and directorial debut with Lover's Discourse (2010), sharing the directing credit with Jimmy Wan Chi-man. The duo was nominated for a Golden Horse Award for Best New Director in 2010.
His solo directorial debut Soul Mate (2016) was critically praised, receiving a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film nomination at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards. His next film Better Days (2019) - screened at Made in China Festival 2022 - was the Hong Kong submission for the Academy Awards and received a Best International Feature Film nomination, becoming the first Hong Kong submission directed by a Hong Kong native to do so.
Fun Fact
Actor Zhou Dongyu, a graduate from the Beijing Film Academy, rose to stardom for the leading role in Under the Hawthorn Tree (Berlinale 2010) directed by Zhang Yimou (also on Made in China Festival’s programme). She received the Golden Horse Award for best lead actress for Soul Mate (2016) and the Best Actress at the 33rd Golden Rooster Awards, 39th Hong Kong Film Awards, 35th People's Hundred Flowers Awards for Oscar nominated Better Days (Berlinale, 2019 / Made in China Festival 2022), both directed by Derek Tsang. Her recent films included San Sebastian Film Festival official selection Fire on the Plain (2021) and Cannes Un Certain Regard selection The Breaking Ice (Film Fest Gent 2023).
Watch the trailer:
