Minerva Pictures has acquired Lee Hong-chi’s sophomore feature “A Dance in Vain” for theatrical distribution in Italy. The deal continues Minerva’s relationship with the filmmaker following their successful distribution of his Venice Lion of the Future Award-winning debut “Love is a Gun.”
“A Dance in Vain” is selected for the Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC), the independent section of the Venice Film Festival. Parallax Films is handling world sales on the title.
The drama stars Cici Wang as Monkey, a theater company worker struggling to make ends meet in an unnamed big city. The story follows her repetitive daily existence, haunted by the suicide of her boyfriend Leo. Caught in cycles of routine and isolation, Monkey attempts to communicate her exhaustion to others, only to be met with dismissive responses.
“We are extremely thrilled to bring Lee Hong Chi’s new film to Italian audiences,” said Andrea Curti, head of acquisitions and special projects at Minerva Pictures. “Lee is one of the most talented young directors from Asia. A couple of years ago, we were surprised by the expressive maturity and visual power of ‘Love is a Gun,’ his debut film presented at the Critics’ Week in Venice, which we acquired for distribution during the festival.”
Curti praised the filmmaker’s distinctive vision, describing “Love is a Gun” as “a deep film, with neo-noir undertones, almost hypnotic, harsh yet also bright at times; true independent cinema that we love so much and that, not always easily, as distributors as well as producers, we have been defending for many years.”
“‘A Dance in Vain’ is yet another surprising confirmation,” Curti continued. “Lee puts a lot of himself and his experience as a citizen in crisis in his urban context into the film, reinterpreting some of the traps of the routine patterns that this dimension seems to impose as the only rule of life, together with a certain sense of guilt that is repeatedly proposed as a dogmatic response to inevitable doubts. Once again, the film is visually very impactful, and we can’t wait to show it to Italian audiences.”
Lee serves triple duty as director, screenwriter and cinematographer on the Chinese production, with Qi Ai and Justine O. producing. The filmmaker has established himself as both a performer and director in recent years, with acting credits including Bi Gan’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Midi Z’s “Cities of Last Things,” Lulu Wang’s “Tigertail” and others.
“A Dance in Vain” is competing alongside six other features in the 40th edition of the Settimana Internazionale della Critica, with all competition films eligible for the Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Venice Award for a debut film, worth $100,000.
variety.com
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