BABY Bao Bei Er
Director: Liu Jie
96 minutes. China. 2018. Subtitled. Colour. D-Cinema.
Official Selection, Toronto International Film festival 2018; San Sebastian International Film festival 2018.
Jiang Meng (in a stunning performance by major Chinese star Yang Mi) is a foster child who having reached the age of 18, must leave the family. Finding a job as a cleaner in a hospital, she encounters a newborn girl in a critical condition, who has the same birth defect she herself had as an infant.
With no certainty of survival, the parents have decided to refuse treatment and to allow the baby to die peacefully in a hospice. Meng though cannot accept the decision, and will stop at nothing, facing down anyone who stands in her way to save the newborn girl who mirrors so closely who she once was. Executive-produced by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, this is a tough, fast-paced, social justice drama.
Liu Jie (b. 1968 in Tianjin, China) graduated in 1991 from the Cinematography Department of Beijing Film Academy, and began his career as a cinematographer and production manager, working on films including Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle and Drifters. His debut feature Courthouse on Horseback (2006) won the Orrizonti Award at the Venice International Film Festival. Judge (2009) was selected at the Venice International Film Festival and won the Best Original Screenplay Award at the Golden Horse Film Festival.
