10.6 (Fri) 19:30-21:00 Middleground

10.13 (Fri) 19:30-21:00 We Used to Be Cool

10.20 (Fri) 19:30-21:00 The Levelling

10.27 (Fri) 19:30-21:30 Petersburg. A Selfie

Middleground

Director: Alisa Khazanova

Starring: Marisa Ryan, Noah Huntley, Chris Beetem

Genre: Drama

Country: USA

Language: English with Chinese subtitles

Runtime: 73 min

Synopsis: A couple arrive at a hotel, but are unable to relax. The wife is already feeling pressured due to her husband’s paranoia and obsession with control when their marriage suddenly faces another crisis. A man who calls himself the wife’s “old friend” appears, but the wife has no impression of him.

We Used to Be Cool

Director: Marie Kreutzer

Starring: Vicky Krieps, Pia Hierzegger

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Country: Austria

Language: German with Chinese and English subtitles

Runtime: 96 min

Synopsis: We Used to Be Cool follows three young couples: Stella and Markus, Ines and Chris, and Mignon and Luis, members of today's got-everything-except-a-purpose generation. Equipped with the latest gadgets, they live safe in their free range, fair trade, Apple-equipped, city center apartments. But with all their material needs covered, and never having suffered from want, their state of mind is the main issue. Stella's the first to find the “solution”: she gets pregnant. The others quickly follow suit, and these adult children find that life is suddenly all too real.

The Levelling

Director: Hope Dickson Leach

Starring: Ellie Kendrick, David Troughton

Genre: Drama

Country: England

Language: English with Chinese and English subtitles

Runtime: 83 min

Synopsis: When Clover Catto receives a call telling her that her younger brother Harry is dead, she must return to her family farm and face the man she hasn't spoken to in years: her father Aubrey. She is shocked to discover her home changed forever by the devastating floods that destroyed the area six months earlier, and Aubrey a tormented shadow of his former self. A new kind of relationship has emerged between Clover and her father due to her years of absence, and she soon begins to realize the real reason behind her brother’s suicide…

Petersburg. A Selfie

Director: Oksana Bychkova, Aksinya Gog, Natalya Kudryashova, Renata Litvinova, Natalya Nazarova, Anna Parmas, Dunya Smirnova

Starring: Matvey Lykov, Natalya Shcherbakova, Anna Mikhalkova, Maksim Vitorgan, Nadezhda Markina

Genre: Drama

Country: Russia

Language: Russian with Chinese and English subtitles

Runtime: 110 min

Petersburg. A Selfie tells the stories of a real, living, and breathing city that makes you believe in miracles: you can soar above its rooftops, its bronze sculptures can come to life, and its poet Joseph Brodsky could be saved by shooting a film about him. Each novella tells its own story about love, loneliness, luck, and hope. The film is a beautifully shot declaration of love from seven directors to the city.

Beijing Hugoeast Media Co., Ltd.

Beijing Hugoeast Media Co., Ltd. has been working on cultural communication and cooperation between China and abroad since 2016. With a blend of multicultural focus, and eyes on both artistic and entertainment value, Hugoeast aims to bridge China and foreign countries via film and cultural exchange. In the past year, Hugoeast has imported roughly 70 new highly acclaimed films from all over the world, including several films from the 70th Cannes International Film Festival: Let the Sunshine In, which won the SACD prize (Directors’ Fortnight); The Workshop (Un Certain Regard); Sicilian Ghost Story (opening film for Critics’ Weeks); and The Intruder (Directors’ Fortnight). They have also facilitated screenings of Félicité and Summer 1993, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize and GWFF Best First Feature Award of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival respectively.