Underground Fragrance
By Pengfei
Country: France, China
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Original title: Underground Fragrance
Casting: Ze Ying, Wenjie Luo, Fuyu Zhao, Xiaohui Li
Production year: 2015
Runtime: 01h15
Production company: House on Fire, Mishka Production
YONG LE, a young migrant worker from the south, salvages furniture to re-sell. He lives in a room in Beijing’s Underground City, a labyrinthian former bomb shelter that serves as cheap housing for people looking for opportunity in the big city. But after a bad work accident leaves him temporarily blind, he has to use a rope to find his way around the dimly lit basement halls, until the night he meets a girl at the other end of his rope…
XIAO YUN, is a migrant too. She is desperately trying to find new employment so that she can leave her job pole dancing at nights. Her meeting with YONG LE and their burgeoning relationship encourages her to hunt for a more respectable job.
At ground level, old LAO JIN has been struggling for years to get a decent compensation deal from the authorities who want to demolish his house. His health is declining and his savings are evaporating. And he’s counting on YONG LE to sell his furniture at a good price.
Three lives propelled by the « Chinese Dream » intermingle in the vast melting pot of the Beijing metropolis.
Venice Days 2015 – Fedeora Award for Best Film
Busan IFF 2015 – Window on Asian Cinema
Warsaw IFF 2015 – Discoveries Section
Chicago IFF 2015 – New Director’s Competition – Gold Hugo Award for Best Film
Sao Paulo IFF 2015 – International Perspective Section
Bratislava IFF 2015 – Competition of First and Second Feature Films
Bangkok IFF 2015 – Asian Contemporary Section
Kolkata IFF 2015 – Asian Select Section
Hong Kong Asian IFF 2015
Torino IFF 2015 – Torino FilmLab Section
Gijon IFF 2015 – Rellumes Competition
IFFI Goa 2015 – Cinema of the World Section
Bengaluru IFF 2016
Istanbul IFF 2016 – Young Masters’ Section
Dragon FF 2016
Indielisboa IFF 2016 – Silvestre Section
Taipei IFF 2016
Karlovy Vary IFF 2016 – Another View Section
« Pengfei, who asserts there a certain talent for observation and staging, explores in small touches a harsh urban reality, as well as the solitudes generated by these violent mutations. » - La Croix
« This first feature by an assistant and screenwriter of Tsai Ming-liang tells with grace and without pathos how this megalopolis expands by reducing the poorest to the condition of ants. » - Première
