European premiere

Love Song 1980

Local title
Laul armastusele 1980
Original title
恋曲1980
Director
Mei Feng
Country
China
Year
2020
Programme
Official Selection - Competition

Fascinating adaptation of the novel 80s Lovers by Yu Xiaodan, "Love Song 1980" is the latest movie from acclaimed director and scriptwriter Mei Feng. An ode to youth, love and its drives, the film is set in Beijing in the early 1980s, during that complex decade that forever changed the course of history in China, at a time when the country opened up to the global market letting novel ideas come sweeping in.

Regarded as the prequel to Lou Ye’s much admired "Summer Palace" - which Mei Feng co-wrote - the film is an epic saga that renders an accurate picture of China’s young generations of the time, with their utopias and desires, immersing the spectators in the warm hues of a fluid narrative.

Not long after handsome Zhengwu, a model student in his twenties, accidentally drowns in a lake and dies, his younger brother Zhengwen enters college and meets again Mao Zhen, Zhengwu’s girlfriend he has secretly fallen in love with. Mysterious and elusive, Mao Zhen will turn out to be his most challenging test and a continuously haunting presence in his life.

A ballad of intertwining stories, "Love Song 1980" follows the moral and psychological growth of a young man, while he falls for a woman torn by guilt and passion and gets involved in love triangles and relationships which are hard to categorize, against the backdrop of Beijing’s liberal awaking.

Giovanna Fulvi

Director
Mei Feng
Screenwriter
Mei Feng, Li Yunlei
Cast
Li Xian, Jessie Li, Mai Zi
Producer
Song Yang, Ji Wei, Xie Chen Teresa
DoP
Zhu Jinjing
Music
Zbigniew Preisner
Production
Fangcaodi Pictures, The Dream Chaser Pictures, Mr. No-problem Films
Runtime
Language
Chinese
Subtitles
Estonian, English
Director
Mei Feng

Mei Feng töötab professorina Pekingi Filmiakadeemias, mille lõpetas magistrikraadiga 1998. Ta on tuntud hiina filmilavastaja LOU Ye kauaaegne koostööpartner ning kirjutanud stsenaariumeid sellistele rahvusvahelistel filmifestivalidel auhinnatud filmidele nagu „Spring Fever“ (2009, parim stsenaariumi auhind Cannes’is), „Summer Palace“ (2006) ja „Mystery“ (2012). Lavastajadebüüdi tegi filmiga „Mr. No Problem“, mis 2016. aastal pälvis auhindu Tokyo filmifestivalil ja sai parima adapteeritud stsenaariumi preemia Taipei Golden Horse auhindade jagamisel.

Bu cheng wen ti de wen ti (Mr. No Problem, 2016), Lian Qu 1980 (Love Song 1980, 2020)

Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn