Movies for free: Chinese Film Fest to start Jan. 29 at Shangri-La

The Spring Film Festival at the Ateneo de Manila University's Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies is back, with 10 Chinese films to be screened for free at the Shangri-La Plaza from January 29 to February 7.

The Ricardo Leong Center posted the screening schedule on its Facebook page.

Below are the synopses of the films to be screened.

Coming Home

Directed by Zhang Yimou, “Coming Home” This drama stars Gong Li and Chen Daoming as Feng Wanyu and Zhang Lu Yanshi, a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner. Three years later, he comes home to find that his wife has developed amnesia and barely remembers her past. A stranger alone in the heart of his broken family, Lu is determined to recover their past life together and also his wife's memory.

Angel Vera

This film is based on the real-life experience of Liu Jiada, an 8-year-old Italian girl who becomes addicted to Beijing opera after visiting China with her mother. She gains entrance to an arts school and helps her friends and her teachers to attain their dreams.

Qiu Xi

In wartime Guangzhou, young boat person Qiu Xi (Jiang Yiyan) becomes a servant to Yan Haiqing (Guo Xiaodong) and falls for the undercover communist agent working with the Kuomintang regime that ruled China until 1949.

Wild Horse from Shangri-La

Geza runs like the wind. In his village on the Tibetan Plateau, friends and family call him “Wild Horse.” But Geza’s little sister was born with a congenital heart disease, and the doctor says that she will die without an operation. Unfortunately, the medical expenses are astronomical for Wild Horse’s poor family. By chance, Wild Horse learns that a marathon is being organized in the province’s capital city. The champion will win a prize that could help save his sister’s life. The competition will take place in four days, but the village where Wild Horse lives is almost 800 kilometers away from the capital city. Wild Horse decides to run to the city and encounters great dangers on his way.

East Wind Rain

Fan Bingbing stars in this film set in Shanghai during the 1940s. Communist spy An Ming (Liu Yunlong) tries to find a roll of film containing major information. He comes under pressure from his new liaison officer, Fang Qianmo (Yu Rongguang), and from his girlfriend, nightclub singer Huanyan (Fan Bingbing), to leave Shanghai, but he refuses until his job is done.

At that Summer

Tan Yan lends his house to his cousin Li Quoqiang, a gambler and troublemaker. To avoid the police and the loan sharks, Li Quoqiang runs away, and Tan Yang has no choice but to look after Liu Liu, Li Guoqiang's pregnant girlfriend.

Full Circle

A group of rebellious senior citizens in a nursing home come together to perform a comic sketch for a Japanese TV competition. When the nursing home's head (Yan Bingyan) forbids them to go to the competition, they seniors plot a plan to escape.

Lost in Thailand

Having recently played a crucial role in developing a new fuel called “Supergas”, energy company executive Xu (Xu Zheng) seeks to patent his creation before his crafty associate Bo (Huang Bo) beats him to the punch. But in order to do so, Xu will first need to gain control of the stakes being held by elusive chairman Zhou, who's currently on vacation in Thailand. Meanwhile, Bo, too, has managed to track down Zhou, and he's determined to reach Thailand first. And he might just succeed, because when overzealous cook Wang (Wang Baoqiang) becomes Xu's unlikely traveling companion, his obsessive quest quickly becomes an outrageous comedy of errors.

Back to 1942

A North Henan landlord in China embarks on a pilgrimage to Sha’anxi province during the 1942 famine, struggling to survive as war with Japan looms on the horizon. His house beset by starving villagers, Landlord Fan (Zhang Guoli) endeavors to calm the crowd by preparing a feast. But his house is burned down in the chaos, prompting Fan, his teenage daughter Xingxing (Fiona Wang), his servant Shuanzhu (Zhang Mo), and his tenant Huazhi (Xu Fan) to embark on a treacherous journey south. Along the way, encounters with an American journalist (Adrien Brody), and a priest (Zhang Hanyu) who has lost his faith reveal the true depth of the despair that grips the country.

Say Yes

Star Taiwanese cellist Yeh Shun (Lin Chi-ling) is on a blind date with a rich businessman, Zhao (Wang Xun). By mistake, however, she meets blue-collar handyman Huang Da (Huang Bo), who is separately on a different blind date. After they resolve their misunderstanding, each meets their planned dates—still in the same restaurant, where it turns out that Huang Da already knows Zhao, who still owes him over RMB100,000 (US$16,000) for construction work on his mansion.

When Zhao's suspicious wife (Jiang Xiwen) suddenly turns up, Yeh Shun pretends that Huang Da is her date. While driving him home, she learns that Huang Da was on his 99th blind date: he's almost given up trying to find a partner. When Yeh Shun urges him to keep trying and to believe in himself, Huang Da falls for her on the spot. How will this odd partnership develop into something more meaningful?

— BM, GMA News

For more information about the Spring Film Festival, call the Ateneo de Manila University's Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies at 426-6001 locals 5208, 5209, 5280 and 5284. For tickets, call Shang Cineplex at 633-2227.