Cry Me a River is a 2008 short film directed by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....

. The film is a romance based around the reunion of four college friends and lovers after ten years. The leads are played by Jia regulars Zhao Tao

Zhao Tao

Zhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...

 and Wang Hongwei

Wang Hongwei

Wang Hongwei is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang starring in Jia's breakthrough short film Xiao Shan Going Home in 1995...

, and Hao Lei

Hao Lei

Hao Lei is a Chinese actress. She was born in Tonghua, Jilin. Hao first gained international prominence as Yu Hong, the heroine in Lou Ye's 2006 film about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Summer Palace. In November 2010, she won a Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress for...

 and Guo Xiaodong, who starred together in Lou Ye

Lou Ye

Lou Ye , born 1965, is a Chinese writer-director who is commonly grouped with the "Sixth Generation" directors of Chinese cinema.-Films:Born in Shanghai, Lou was educated at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1993, he made his first film Weekend Lover, but it was not released until two years later in 1995...

's 2006 film Summer Palace

Summer Palace (film)

Summer Palace , is a 2006 Chinese film and the fourth feature film by director Lou Ye. The film was a Chinese-French collaboration produced by Dream Factory, Laurel Films, Fantasy Pictures and Sylvain Bursztejn's Rosem Films...

. Jia has stated that he was inspired by the classic Chinese film Spring in a Small Town

Spring in a Small Town

Spring in a Small Town is a Chinese film released in 1948 and directed by Fei Mu . The film was based on a short story by Li Tianji , and was produced by the Wenhua Film Company....

, also about the reuniting of former lovers in a rural river town in eastern China.

The film was produced by Jia's own Xstream Pictures

Xstream Pictures

Xstream Pictures is a Chinese production company based out of Beijing and Hong Kong that was founded by filmmakers Jia Zhangke, Chow Keung, and Yu Lik-wai. Formed in 2003, the company's first production was Jia's own The World...

.

Release

The film premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival

65th Venice International Film Festival

The 65th Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on August 27, 2008 by Burn After Reading, and closed on September 6, 2008....

 out-of-competition as one of two Chinese films in the lineup (Yu Lik-wai

Yu Lik-wai

Yu Lik-wai is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu was educated at Belgium's INSAS where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994...

's Plastic City was the other). The short film also screened with Jia's feature length 24 City

24 City

24 City is a 2008 film directed and co-written by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. The film follows three generations of characters in Chengdu as a state-owned factory gives way to a modern apartment complex...

as a companion piece at the BFI London Film Festival

London Film Festival

The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...

in October 2008.

External links

• Cry Me a River at the Chinese Movie Database