CAUGHT BY THE TIDES © X STREAM PICTURES
Feng Liu Yi Dai (Caught by the Tides), a 20-year love story by Jia Zhang-Ke
Ever since Ren Xiao Yao (Unknown Pleasures) in 2002, the great Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke has been a regular at the Festival. A member of the Feature Film Jury in 2014 and winner of the Best Screenplay Award in 2013 for Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch of Sin), he now returns with his seventh Official Selection entry, Feng Liu Yi Dai (Caught by the Tides).
In early 2000s China, Qiao Qiao and Bin share a passionate but fragile love. When Bin disappears to try his luck in another province, Qiao Qiao decides to go looking for him. Following the romantic destiny of his perrenial heroine, Jia Zhang-Ke delivers a unique, epic tale traversing all his past films and more than 20 years of a country going through profound change.
“Just as we watch a tree grow, cinema observes life being lived.”
– Jia Zhang-Ke
Beyond its story of thwarted love, what makes this film truly original is the fact that it was filmed over more than 20 years, with the first images for Caught by the Tides shot in 2001. Subsequent sequences were filmed over the next two decades and the last scenes were shot in Datong in 2023. The director followed his characters from Northern to Southern China, using brand-new cameras that gradually emerged over time as they aged.
The role of Qiao Qiao—played by Jia Zhang-Ke’s real-life wife and muse Zhao Tao—appears in many of his films. Qiao and Bin were the respective first names of the couple in Jiang Hu Er Nv (Ash Is Purest White), the filmmaker’s previous feature film, presented in Competition at the 2018 Festival de Cannes. This time, the actress plays a new mute version of this recurring character.
