China’s Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF) has unveiled its full selection, including the titles for its Crouching Tigers competition, which will screen 11 films including Cannes award winners My Father’s Shadow and The President’s Cake.
The President’s Cake, from Iraq’s Hasan Hadi, won the Camera d’Or at this year’s Cannes film festival, while My Father’s Shadow, directed by Nigeria’s Akinola Davies Jr, received a Camera d’Or Special Mention. Crouching Tigers will also screen Akio Fujimoto’s Lost Land, which won the Special Jury Prize in the Horizons section of this year’s Venice film festival.
Crouching Tigers selects first, second and third films from international directors, while the festival’s Hidden Dragons competition focuses on films from emerging directors making Chinese-language films. This year, Hidden Dragons includes Singapore filmmaker Tan Siyou’s Amoeba, fresh from its world premiere in Toronto, and Li Dongmei’s Guo Ran, which premiered in Rotterdam (see full line-up below).
The festival has also set Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another as the opening film of its Galas section, which will screen nine international films. The Galas line-up also includes Cannes award winners such as Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value; and Sho Miyake’s Locarno Golden Leopard winner Two Seasons, Two Strangers (see full line-up below).
Special Presentations at the festival include documentary Mr. Kim Goes To The Cinema, directed by Busan International Film Festival co-founder Kim Dong-ho; Chinese director Feng Xiaogang’s 2004 action comedy A World Without Thieves; Andrea Segre’s documentary short The Great Ambition and Zhang Dalei’s short film Happy New Year Mr Wood.
Founded by Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke and held annually in the UNESCO heritage site of Pingyao, Shanxi province, the festival aims to showcase emerging Chinese talent as well as bring prestige international cinema to Chinese audiences.
The festival also features a Made In Shanxi section, screening six world premieres from filmmakers based in Shanxi, also Jia’s home province. This year’s Cinephile screening is Yu Shui’s blockbuster animation Nobody, which has grossed $222M at the China box office.
Pingyao film festival is scheduled to run September 24-30. The festival will announce its closing film and Pingyao Surprise Selection in coming days.
PINGYAO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025:
CROUCHING TIGERS:
Rebuilding (US) APDir: Max Walker-Silverman
The Last Blossom (Japan) APDir: Baku Kinoshita[Animation]
My Father’s Shadow (Nigeria, UK) CPDir: Akinola Davies Jr
Wild Foxes (France. Belgium) CPDir: Valéry Carnoy
The Massacre Of Gilles De Rais (Portugal) WPDir: Juan Branco
Reedland (Netherlands, Belgium) CPDir: Sven Bresser
Lost Land (Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany) APDir: Akio Fujimoto
The World Of Love (South Korea) APDir: Yoon Ga-Eun
Adam’s Sake (Belgium, France) CPDir: Laura Wandel
Dandelion’s Odyssey (Francem, Belgium) APDir: Momoko Seto[Animation]
The President’s Cake (Iraq, US, Qatar) CPDir: Hasan Hadi
HIDDEN DRAGONS:
Jet Lag In Summer (Hong Kong, China, US) WPDir: Yan Kun-Ao
Happy Girls (China) WPDir: Meng Xing
Guo Ran (China) APDir: Li Dongmei
Amoeba (Singapore, Netherlands, France, Spain, Korea) APDir: Siyou Tan
The Toddling Youths (China) WPDir: Qi Yanyan[Documentary]
A Long Way Home (China) WPDir: Zheng Xusong[Documentary]
Nighttime Sounds (China) APDir: Zhang Zhongchen
Deep Quiet Room (Taiwan, China, Italy) WPDir: Ko-Shang Shen
#4 Road To Vendetta (Hong Kong, China) APDir: Njo Kui Ying
Another World (Hong Kong, China) APDir: Tommy Ng Kai Chung[Animation]
West Border (China) APDir: Luo Yan
GALAS:
One Battle After Another (US)Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson[OPENING FILM]
Love On Trial (Japan)Dir: Kôji Fukada
Two Seasons, Two Strangers (Japan)Dir: Sho Miyake
The Secret Agent (Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands)Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Woman And Child (Iran, France)Dir: Saeed Roustayi
Dear Stranger (Japan, Taiwan, China, US)Dir: Tetsuya Mariko
Sentimental Value (Norway, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden)Dir: Joachim Trier
Case137 (France)Dir: Dominik Moll
The Mastermind (US, UK)Dir: Kelly Reichardt
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