River Road (Chinese: 家在水草丰茂的地方; pinyin: jiā zài shuǐ cǎo fēng mào de dì fāng) is a 2014 Chinese film written and directed by Li Ruijun and starring Tang Long and Guo Songtao. It made its world premiere at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival, in 2014.[1][2][3]

River Road
Film poster
Directed byLi Ruijun
Screenplay byLi Ruijun
Produced by
  • Yang Cheng
  • Geng Xiaonan
  • Li Ruijun
Starring
  • Tang Long
  • Guo Songtao
CinematographyLiu Yonghong
Edited byLi Ruijun
Music byPeyman Yazdanian
Release dates
Running time
103 minutes
CountryChina
Languages

Synopsis

edit

While their parents graze their sheep far from the town, Adikeer stays at a boarding school in town and his older brother, Bartel, lives with their grandfather, a sheep herder from the Buddhist Yugur ethnic minority. When their father fails to pick them up for summer break and their grandfather dies suddenly, the two brothers embark on a journey with their camels across the vast, dry expanse of western China alone, in search of their father, by following the path of a dried-up river bed.[4][5][6]

Cast

edit
  • Tang Long as Adikeer
  • Guo Songtao as Bartel
  • Bai Wenxin as Grandfather
  • Guo Jianmin as Father
  • Ma Xingchun as Monk

Awards and nominations

edit
Year Award Category Recipient Result
2014 27th Tokyo International Film Festival[citation needed] Best Film River Road Nominated
2nd International Film Festival of Colombo[7] Best Film (Asian Competition) Won
2015 65th Berlin International Film Festival[citation needed] Best Feature Film Nominated
39th Hong Kong International Film Festival[8] SIGNIS Award Won

Reception

edit

With no big stars and a little-known director, River Road was largely overlooked at the box office, even though domestic film critics like Wei Junzi highly recommended it on Sina Weibo on the day of its premiere.[citation needed]

References

edit
  1. ^ "River Road". Film Society of Lincoln Center. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  2. ^ "River Road". Tokyo International Film Festival. October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  3. ^ "River Road 家在水草丰茂的地方". YouTube. 11 September 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  4. ^ Gros, Fernando (26 October 2014). "River Road". The Society for Film. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  5. ^ Young, Deborah (29 October 2014). "River Road: Tokyo Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  6. ^ "The greatest climate change movie ever". Rukor. 22 June 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  7. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (11 November 2015). "River Road, Motor Bicycle Ride Off with Colombo Festival Prizes". Variety. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  8. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (3 April 2015). "Chinese film River Road Wins SIGNIS Award at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2015". SIGNIS. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
edit