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Black Coal, Thin Ice

Viewpoints

North American Premiere

China, Hong Kong | 106 MINUTES | Mandarin | English subtitles

BLACK COAL, THIN ICE

Drama
After a botched arrest in a grisly serial murder case, small-town detective Zhang Zili is suspended from the force, taking a job as a security guard at a coal factory. Five years later, another series of mysteriously similar murders takes place, and Zhang recruits his former partner to finish their investigation. His sleuthing soon leads to a local laundromat proprietor named Wu Zhizhen, whose soft-spoken demeanor and enigmatic aura are compelling to Zhang despite her mysterious connection to the deaths.

Part film noir, part social realist portrait of industrial city life in Northern China, Diao Yinan’s atmospheric Black Coal, Thin Ice is a moody, quietly powerful thriller staged against the quotidian lives of a wintry industrial landscape, and winner of the top prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

-Cara Cusumano

CAST & CREDITS

Directed by Diao Yinan

Diao Yinan has always been a fan of detective stories, particularly those that depict the lives of ordinary people. His aim in Black Coal, Thin Ice is not only to investigate a mystery and find out the truth about the people involved, but also to create an honest representation of the ‘new reality’ of life in contemporary China.
Director
Diao Yinan
Screenwriter
Diao Yinan
Producer
Vivian Qu
Editor
Yang Hongyu
Associate Producer
Wan Juan
Cinematographer
Dong Jinsong
Composer
Wen Zi
Co-Producer
Shen Yang
Cast
Liao Fan, Gwei Lun Mei, Wang Xuebing, Wang Jingchun, Yu Ailei, Ni Jingyang

CONTACTS

International Sales Contact
Winnie Lau
Jet Tone Films Ltd.
Hong Kong, 00000
Phone: +852 2301 9700
winnielau@jettone.net
Print Source
Laura Talsma
Fortissimo Films
Amsterdam, 1013 CN
Phone: +31 20 627 3215
laura@fortissimo.nl
US Sales Contact
Winnie Lau
Jet Tone Films Ltd.
Hong Kong, 00000
Phone: +852 2301 9700
winnielau@jettone.net
Press Contact
Tiffany Malloy
Sunshine Sachs
New York, 10013
Phone: 201 925 1122
malloy@sunshinesachs.com