Kaili Blues

September 6, 2016 · The Pilot Light · 7:30 p.m.

In a small clinic in the rain-drenched city of Kaili, two preoccupied doctors live ghost-like lives. One of them, Chen, decides to fulfill his dead mother’s wish and sets off on a train journey to look for his brother’s abandoned child. His partner in the clinic, a lonely old lady, asks Chen to find her old lover, and give him an old photograph, a shirt and a music cassette. But on the way, Chen passes a mysterious town called Dangmai, where time is not linear and people’s lives complement each other. Here, Chen experiences the past, present and future. It’s unclear whether this world is the doctor’s dream, or the other way around.

“Absolutely extraordinary. Blessed with a magic and mystery that is utterly unique.” — Jonathan Demme, filmmaker

“Astonishing first film about a geography of the soul. Delineated by time, trains and regret… Contains a 40 minute single shot that traces a map of Kaili with poetic prodigious filmic chops. Why? Cinema. Why? Life.” — Guillermo del Toro, filmmaker

About the Filmmaker

Bi Gan, a Chinese young director and poet, was born in Kaili, Guizhou in 1989. In 2013 his short film Diamond Sutra received the Special Mention Award in the Asian New Force Category of the 19th IFVA Festival (the Incubator for Film and Visual media in Asia), Hong Kong. Kaili Blues is his first feature film.