** Co-presented with SIFF! Watch Kaili Blues, Bi Gan’s feature debut, before the spring release of his followup film, Long Day’s Journey into Night, which we will co-present with SIFF in April **

An audacious, richly imagined feature debut that has collected prizes around the world, Kaili Blues heralds the arrival of a major new filmmaker. Chen, a preoccupied doctor working in a small clinic in the rain-drenched city of Kaili, decides to fulfill his late mother’s wish and sets off on a journey to look for his brother’s abandoned child. His partner in the clinic, a lonely old lady, asks him to also find her former lover, giving him a photograph, a shirt, and a music cassette. On the way, Chen passes through a mysterious town where distinctions between past, present, and future appear to slip away.

“Absolutely extraordinary. Blessed with a magic and mystery that is utterly unique.” — Jonathan Demme

“Astonishing first film about a geography of the soul. Delineated by time, trains and regret… Contains a 40-minute single shot that traces a map of Kaili with poetic prodigious filmic chops. Why? Cinema. Why? Life.” — Guillermo del Toro