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6TH EDITION ★ 28 FEBRUARY - 30 MARCH 2025
★ GHENT ★
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March 3 / 20:00
东北⻁ MANCHURIAN TIGER
“Manchurian Tiger” Paints Absurdist Picture of Working-class Life in Northern China
耿军 Geng Jun
2021 / Drama / China / 118 min
In the Northeast of China, a man tries to take revenge for the death of his pet dog while accidentally getting his family and friends caught up in the troubles.
SYNOPSIS / Truck driver Xu Dong has to send his beloved dog away when his pregnant wife, Meiling, approaches her due date. By coincidence, Ma Qianli, a real estate developer heavily in debt, now becomes the new dog owner, but the dog dies unintentionally. The death of the dog turns the two frustrated
men into foes. Xu seeks vengeance with rage though after several failed attempts, he finds himself sympathizing with Ma’s plight and impossible to carry on with the plan. Meanwhile, Meiling finds out about Xu’s love affair. Inextinguishable hatred spreads among the three.
Just like the Manchurian tiger who has grown used to being fed by the zoo keepers, people are also trapped in their mundane absurdity of life, bathing under the sun that shines through the cage.
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Manchurian Tiger deftly interweaves its character development with its worldbuilding, creating a humorously harsh world in which everyone seems to owe a debt to or have a grudge against every individual. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, in which there are but a few scraps of happiness, and each debt seems to beget a new grudge.
Geng Jun Director
Geng Jun grew up in Heilongjiang, China. Without any film school training, he moved to Beijing and directed many films including HAWTHORN (Short, 2002), DIARY IN BULK (Short, 2003), BARBECUE (2004), YOUTH (2008), AIRPLANE (Short, 2012) and THE HAMMER AND THE SICKLE ARE SLEEPING (Short, 2013).He gained more attention with FREE AND EASY(2016) when it won the World CinemaDramatic Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival and received four major nominations at Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival including Best Film and Best Director. His most recent film MANCHURIAN TIGER (2021) won the top distinction of Golden Goblet Award for Best Feature Film at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival.
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