China’s Hainan Island International Film Festival returns as an in-person event; Competition titles include “Aftersun”, “Saint Omer”, “The Beasts”.

The Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF) in Sanya, China, has returned as an in-person event after a relatively short postponement due to Covid, with separate competition sections for feature films, documentaries and short films.

The festival opened on December 18 with a screening by Chinese filmmaker Da Peng place truth and is for 25.12. It was originally scheduled for December 3-10, but was postponed due to the ongoing Covid situation.

Experienced festival director Marco Mueller has recently joined the HIIFF as artistic director. He previously directed programming for the Pingyao International Film Festival in China.

HIIFF’s 11-title competition section will feature current festival favorites including Charlotte Wells’ After sunby Alice Diop Holy Omer and that of Rodrigo Sorogoyen The beasts. Chinese titles in the competition include that of Chakme Rinpoche Georgia and that of Qiao Siyu The leash of life. The documentary film competition includes eight titles (see list below).

In addition to the competitive sections, the festival has sidebars including Gala Screenings, Asian New Director, Fest Best, Panorama, New Horizons, Classics and Screenings by the Sea.

Asian new director is shown autobiographydirected by the Indonesian Makbul Mubarak, which won several awards at festivals this year; bro by Darkhan Tulegenov of Kazakhstan; To introduce by Ali Behrad of Iran; Leonor will never die by Filipino Martika Ramirez Escobar; roleless by Japanese directors Masahiko Sato, Yutaro Seki and Kentaro Hirase and recent Busan winner by Indian director Jaishankar Aryar Shivama.

The Panorama section contains titles such as Oh my goshby Singaporean filmmaker He Shuming, a man by Kei Ishikawa of Japan and Emily Atef More than ever.

Located off China’s southern coast, Hainan Island is a tropical beach resort but is also being developed as a business hub and filming location as many Chinese productions have been moved there during the pandemic.

HIIFF 2022 Feature Film Competition:

after sun, Charlotte Wells (UK/USA)

The beastsRodrigo Sorogoyen (Spain)

GeorgiaChakme Rinpoche (China)

son of RamsesClement Cogitore (France)

holy omer, Alice Diop (Senegal)

The leash of lifeQiao Siyu (China)

The innocentLouis Garrell (France)

Trenque LauquenLaura Citarella (Argentina)

veraTizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel (Austria)

What’s leftHuang Ran (UK/Hong Kong/Finland)

World War IIIHouman Seyedi (Iran)

HIIFF 2022 Documentary Competition:

A marble travelogueSean Wang (Netherlands/Hong Kong/Greece)

A permanent jobMattia Colombo & Gianluca Matarrese (Italy)

Blue pocket lifeRebecca Lloyd Evans (UK)

Dry land burnsJoana Pimenta & Adirley Queiros (Brazil)

BeginnerThierry Demaizière & Alban Teurlai (France)

See you Friday RobinsonMitra Farahani (France/Switzerland/Iran/Lebanon)

The eclipseNatasa Urban (Norway)

Our students!Rafiki Fariala (Central African Republic/Democratic Republic of the Congo/Saudi Arabia)