RAN DONG / THE BREAKING ICE

In cold wintry Yanji, a city on China’s northern border, young urbanite Haofeng, visiting from Shanghai, feels lost and adrift. By chance, he goes on a tour led by Nana, a charming tour guide who instantly fascinates him. She introduces him to Xiao, a personable but frustrated restaurant worker. The three bond quickly over a drunken weekend. Confronting their individual traumas, their frozen desires slowly thaw as they seek to liberate themselves from an icy world.

ENTONI ČEN / ANTHONY CHEN

Anthony Chen is an award-winning writer, director and producer from Singapore. He became the first Singaporean to be awarded at Cannes with short film Ah Ma (2007). His debut feature Ilo Ilo (2013) was awarded the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by 40 awards internationally. His sophomore film Wet Season (2019) was nominated for the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. Both films are Singapore’s official submissions for the Academy Awards. Drift (2023) marked his English-language debut and premiered at Sundance. The Breaking Ice (2023) is his first Chinese-language film made in China.

Reveiws:

Anthony Chen creates an arresting portrait of three young people trapped within their own existential crises.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

 

A sweet and spectacularly beautiful film (...) finds hope in the most frigid of places.

David Ehrlich: IndieWire