Spend a Sunday This Lunar New Year Celebrating the Best of Chinese Cinema

February 15, 2024

chinese-film-festival-snow-leopard-closing-night

2024 marks the year of the dragon, and you can expect celebrations this Lunar New Year to be as colourful, vibrant and exciting as ever. One of the best ways to immerse yourself in Chinese culture is to indulge in Chinese cinema. One of the most prolific film industries in the world, Chinese cinema has something for everyone. Rom-coms, crime thrillers, poignant dramas and beyond.

This year marks the inaugural Chinese Film Festival, presented by HSBC, and it has a lineup that showcases some of the best in contemporary and classic Chinese cinema. Taking place from February 15 — 18, the Chinese Film Festival will hit cinemas around the country, showcasing six films across four days. But, if you can’t make the whole weekend, why not see out the Lunar New Year with the festival’s closing night? You’ll be able to take in two of the most exciting Chinese movies to arrive in the past year.

Snow Leopard

Marking one of Tibetan director Pema Tseden’s last films before he died in May 2023, Snow Leopard is an intimate, and stunning, look into how the arrival of the titular predator in a rural village impacts everyone. Family members turn on each other. A local TV crew swarms the farm. Snow Leopard explores the complexities of family drama under a fresh and unique lens.

Above all else, it gives a glimpse into rural Tibetan lifestyle, and its dynamics, which is what Tseden did best. Screening at select cinemas around the country at 4:15pm on Sunday, February 18, this majestic and visually entrancing movie will astound you.

The Breaking Ice

While Snow Leopard looks at a relatively singular experience of a specific community, The Breaking Ice feels universal. The final film to play as part of the festival, The Breaking Ice centres on three twenty-somethings. It’s a delicate romantic drama spotlighting the frustrations we all feel at that age. Are we in the right place? Are we doing the right thing? Why aren’t we where we thought we’d be? These questions, and more, rattle around the heads of the three main characters after spending a drunken weekend together. Slowly, passions begin to thaw and freedom begins to beam over the horizon.

This poignant film, directed and written by Anthony Chen, will close out the inaugural Chinese Film Festival, screening at 6:30pm in select cinemas nationwide.

Where is the Chinese Film Festival Taking Place?

The Chinese Film Festival will be running simultaneously across several cinemas nationwide, thanks to Dendy, Palace and Palace Nova. Check out the full list of locations below, and click through to grab your tickets today.