Mountains May Depart / Shan He Gu Ren

The Pet Shop Boys sing “Go West, this is what we’re gonna do”, as a group of young Chinese set about dancing. We are in the year 1999 and the small town of Fenyang is celebrating the New Year. Two dissimilar men – one a simple miner, the other his nouveau riche boss – fight for the affections of the young teacher Tao, who can’t decide between the two lovers. The story of a ménage-à-trois unfolds in three different time frames: 1999, 2014 and 2025. Jia Zhangke is without doubt one of the most important filmmakers of our time. Having cast his eye upon the victims of China’s economic boom two years ago in A TOUCH OF SIN, the director now focuses in his latest work on the process of cultural modernisation and the resulting loss of identity of its people.