Chinese New Year documentary advised by Jia Zhangke launches at Busan market

EXCLUSIVE: A documentary centred on Chinese New Year, which has filmmaker Jia Zhangke on board as artistic advisor, is being presented at ACFM.

Wang Lechao’s A Taste Of Cantonese Spring Festival is presented by Hong Kong’s Entertaining Power and China’s Pearl River Film Group at a joint market booth.

The film portrays vibrant Chinese New Year celebrations through three distinct communities in Southern China: the Cantonese, Teochew, and Hakka.

It follows social media creators as they return to their ancestral homes to document their families’ rituals, from fiery lion dances in Guangzhou’s alleys to the rhythms of Hakka glutinous rice pounding, and intricate Teochew reunion feasts. The camera traces their journeys to reveal the sensory richness of the season and the emotional labour behind their curated online personas.

As artistic advisor, Jia took an active role in the creative process, from script development, shooting techniques and editing to post-production. He boarded this project at the request of Chen Yiqi, deputy general manager of Pearl River Film Group and supervising lead of Pearl River Film Culture Communication.

Director Wang has worked as executive director on several film and TV titles directed by Jia, including Caught By The Tides, which played in Competition at Cannes.