SEND ME TO THE CLOUDS

送我上青云

Bonus Features: Trailer | Song “Wu Bu Kong” (Unawakened to Emptiness)

精彩花絮：预告片 | 歌曲《悟不空》

96 Minutes (feature)

100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

Director & Writer: Teng, Congcong Cast: Yao, Chen / Yuan, Hong / Li, Jiuxiao / Liang, Guanhua / Yang, Xinming / Wu, Yufang

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer, iron-willed journalist Sheng Nan (“Surpass Men” in Chinese) is pressured to make a quick fortune and find mind-blowing sex before the costly surgery numbs her senses. Taking on a businessman’s biography writing job, she hikes into the misty mountains, where a chain of outbursts with her dysfunctional family, grumpy client, misogynistic co-worker and dreamlike romantic interest hilariously unfold. As deeply moving as it is luminously witty, writer-director Teng Congcong’s debut waltzes across the bitterness swallowed by her generation of women born under China’s One Child Policy, unprecedentedly burdened to “surpass men” while trying not to be “leftover women” at the same time. Saluting the 18th-century Chinese literature classic Dream of the Red Chamber in its title, the enchanting gem refreshes the novel's transcendent contemplation on desire, death and womanhood from a modern cinematic perspective.

FESTIVALS AND RECOGNITIONS

Nominations

Best Director, Best Film, Shanghai International Film Festival

Special Presentation, First International Film Festival

Best Directorial Debut, Best Writing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Golden Rooster Awards

“Yao’s soulful and stirring performance as a complex woman struggling to understand herself - and life itself - anchors “Send Me to the Clouds,” allowing it to truly soar.”

— Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times

“One of the most original, moving, subtly funny, and disarmingly entertaining foreign language films of the year.”

— Andrew Parker, The Gate

“An honest and broadly recognizable picture of modern womanhood… a cinematic roar — and universal despite its geographic specificity.”

— Elizabeth Kerr, Hollywood Reporter

“Teng’s fine-tuned direction and Yao’s spot-on performance combine impressively to maintain Sheng Nan’s dignity and deepen viewers’ sympathy even as she stumbles, blunders and suffers embarrassment in her pursuit of satisfaction.”

— Richard Kuipers, Variety

Available License Types:

Public Performance Rights (PPR)

The license allows an organization to hold screenings of the film on its own grounds, to groups of no more than 50 people, and where no admission is charged.

(For screenings that charge admission and or with an audience of more than 50 people, please send booking inquiries to info@chengchengfilm.com)

Digital Site License (DSL)

The License allows an organization to provide digital streaming on a password protected server only to registered students, members, researchers, faculty and staff.

Available Formats:

DVD

NTSC, Audio: Dolby Digital, Region Code: 1

Subtitles: English

Digital File

High Quality 1080p mp4 file

Subtitles: Burned in subtitles in English and traditional Chinese

Spoken Languages: Mandarin Chinese

Not Rated, Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (16:9 Widescreen)

Disclaimer: All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced are reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance, radio or TV broadcasting of the disc is prohibited.

Licensed by Cheng Cheng Films. www.chengchengfilm.com

At a gathering of the poetry club in the grandview garden, every member is tasked to write a poem about the rootless willow catkins blown away by the indifferent east wind. While others complain about the cruelty and contingency of the world in their poems, Xue Baochai stuns the crowd and wins top prize with bold ambition shown in her writing, which encourages everyone to take advantage of adverse forces to serve their own interests.
Her poem reads:
"No matter what separates or unites,
the filaments whence we are formed remains unchanging;
Do not laugh at my rootlessness.
Good wind, lend me the power.
Send me up to the clouds."

——summarized from 70th Episode of Dream of Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin