Winner of the Best Film and FIPRESCI prizes at this year's Hong Kong Film Festival, South of the Clouds is a bittersweet tale of one man's long-awaited journey to a distant Chinese province. Warm and engaging, this wonderful film is highlighted by deft performances and an evocative sense of the remoteness and mystery of southern China.

Eschewing the wishes of his family and the pressures of 'New China', Xu decides against investing his retirement money in his daughter's aerobics business. Instead he fulfils a long-held dream and embarks on a road trip to the remote Yunnan province. Once there, he finds himself at odds with his new surroundings, and increasingly weighed down by a decades-long secret. When he has an 'affair' with a prostitute and is hauled in by the police, Xu finds himself ensnared in a Kafkaesque legal bind, unable to leave the town.

South of the Clouds features a cameo from MIFF 2003 guest, Springtime in a Small Town director, Tian Zhuangzhuang.

'I'd like to tell a story from my parents' generation. They underwent that abnormal time with no complaint, revealing some surreal forbearance in a real life. Their sexual life has always been kept a secret.' -Zhu Wen, director

D/S Zhu Wen P Geng Ling WS China Film Assist L Mandarin w/English subtitles TD 35mm/Col/2004/100mins

Zhu Wen was born in Fujian, China in 1967. Films include: Seafood (2001).